Panem's Crowning Glory
by SmurfLuvsCookies
Summary: Her name is Aliss Raechelle Snow. She is the President's greatest secret. His greatest regret. And his greatest enemy. My version of "Mockingjay" before it was published.
1. Family, Friends, and Fiends

CHAPTER ONE: Family, Friends, and Fiends

_I live in the Capitol...but I hate it._

_Let's just get that little detail straight. I don't like having all of this delicious food available when people are starving. I think the colorful buildings are ridiculous. I think the fashions are grotesque. As well as the people. In fact, I could almost say that I would much rather be a famined coal miner from District 12._

_Almost._

_As soon as the Capitol found out, I'd probably die in an "accident". Or just executed for encouraging rebellion. So, needless to say, I keep my mouth shut. It's difficult sometimes, but I manage. Me keeping my distaste for the Capitol a secret while living in luxury compared to the povertized Districts keeping it under wraps is a small feat. I admire them._

_That admiration goes a long way during the Hunger Games. How cruel of the Capitol to force innocent children—some even younger than 13-year-old me—to fight to the death on live television. And even worse, their parents are forced to watch. It's sickening. Sadistic. Inhuman._

_I hate it._

Aliss read and re-read this diary entry on the balcony of her third-story room. It was the first in a long list of written complaints against the Capitol. She'd started this diary two years ago. One sentence caught her eye.

_In fact, I could almost say that I would rather be a famined coal miner from District 12._

And now, District 12 was gone. Blown to bits by the Capitol, just like District 13 before it. Abolished for rebelling. Aliss believed it started with Katniss Everdeen, the girl who won the Hunger Games. The girl who tricked the Capitol once, and thought she could do it again. _But Katniss really didn't have any choice, _Aliss thought. _She would have been assassinated because of the berry thing anyway. _

Aliss looked up from the yellowing piece of paper. She had a wonderful view of the Capitol from her balcony. Most people saw it as a work of art, but it was a hoax. The bright buildings and beautiful architecture were just distractions. There was absolutely nothing amazing about the city.

With a sigh, Aliss closed her diary and stored it in the hollow brick which she then replaced to the wall beside the door to the balcony. She had to keep the book safe under all costs. If anyone loyal to the Capitol found it...

She escaped the abuse of the wind and closed the doors tightly behind her. She turned to face what was her room. A small suite would be a more appropriate term. The walls were high and angular, forming small columns and crevices throughout the room. The only completely smooth side was made entirely of glass, which portrayed a stunning view of the Capitol. Her bed sat in the corner farthest from the window wall. A dresser, vanity set, desk, and small eating area that was composed of a squat little table and four pillows made up the rest of the furniture. A bookshelf loaded with books was set near a plush beanbag against the window wall. Aliss liked to read there. The desk was covered in sketch pads and journals filled with short stories. Easels littered the room, their arms embracing colorful canvases. Three doors were the only exits to the room—one that lead to the bathroom, one that opened to the balcony, and the last that granted access to the rest of the house. This was Aliss's sanctuary, the one place where she could be herself and do whatever she wanted. This room was the only place where Aliss could be...Aliss.

She flopped onto the beanbag chair and selected a thick paperback novel she'd been reading. Aliss plummeted into the adventures of Dorris Radely, a man who wrote books about the rebellion of District 13. He gave the people heart and soul, as if he didn't care what the Capitol thought. Dorris Radely was probably a pen name; although he didn't directly state his feelings toward the Capitol, they were apparent throughout the book. Aliss would be severely punished if anyone found out she was reading it.

There was a knock at the door. Aliss hastily traded Dorris Radely's book with another before uttering, "Come in."

Her maid entered. Thea was a harsh, bitter old woman who was famous for her sharp tongue. A switch was on her person at all times, in case one of the few mischievous children in the house was misbehaving.

"Your father wants you at dinner tonight, seven o'clock sharp," Thea said.

"And if I don't want to eat with him?" Aliss challenged. She took advantage of every opportunity to upset Thea and her father. It was yet another hobby she'd taken up due to hours of solitary confinement.

"I have been instructed to wash, dress, and escort you to the dining hall if necessary," the old maid countered. "Unless you wish for me to do so, then I suggest you get a move on."

Knowing she'd been defeated, Aliss slammed her book shut and stomped off into the bathroom. She stayed in the warm bath water until Thea pounded on the door, ordering her to hurry it up. She slowly got out and drained the water before stepping into her room and choosing pants and a cotton shirt to wear to dinner.

"I don't think so," Thea said when she saw Aliss. "This is a formal event."

"I'm going to eat dinner with my dad. In some normal families, it's a casual event," Aliss snapped.

"Your forgetting who your father is. Now go change before I change you myself."

Aliss went through four outfits before she found one Thea saw as acceptable. It was a floor-length dress made of crimson silk that wrapped around her petite frame. Thea took Aliss's silvery blond hair out of its ponytail and gently folded it into a more appropriate-looking style. As a final touch, she hooked a necklace that had the appearance of ensnared vines around Aliss's neck. Aliss noticed it matched the silver thread detail along the V-neck of her dress.

"There," Thea beamed. "You look beautiful. Just like a lady."

Aliss didn't feel like she was going to see a family member. She felt as though she was going on a date._ This is humiliating_, she thought._ I shouldn't look like this to go eat dinner right across the hall! Much less with my father. _

Thea tugged her down the hall and into the grand dining area. It was made completely of marble. The only things that weren't marble were the half-domed glass windows and the crystal chandelier that hung above the large marble table.

Thea scampered away after ensuring Aliss sat down at one end of the table. Her footsteps echoed in the empty room. An Avox offered her some refreshments. Aliss downed a glass of champagne. And then another. She was on her third glass when her father finally made it. He smiled at her with his overly-full lips, his surgically altered cheeks crinkling.

"Aliss, my dear," he said softly. "You look lovely."

"I can't say the same, _Daddy_," Aliss hissed. That false smile faltered for a moment. His snake-like eyes flashed dangerously. He sat down at the other head of the table, far away for most people, but much too close for Aliss.

"Now, Aliss dear, be civilized. You wouldn't want to be punished for disrespecting your father, now would you?"

"Having you for a father is punishment."

"Most people would be overjoyed to have me as a relative," her father said.

Aliss gazed at him steadily, her face impassive. "Those people would be sadly mistaken."

The food arrived, momentarily saving Aliss from having to hear her father's voice. She nudged the entrée with her fork, mentally pleading for this night to end soon.

"So how are your lessons?"

"Fine."

"Your painting?"

"Okay."

"Any friends?"

"No."

"No one?"

"I said no."

"Well, maybe if you were a bit more open you would have at least one," her father snapped. "I'm trying to have a conversation with you."

"And I'm trying to eat," Aliss retorted. The comment about opening up was him teasing her. He knew how imprisoned Aliss was.

There was silence at the table. They finished the dinner portion and were served dessert. Aliss could feel her father's eyes on her expressionless face. It made her sick.

A servant came in. He clacked toward the table, stopping at a respectable distance from her father.

"President Snow, you're needed in the conference room," he said.

"Can it wait? I'm having dinner with my daughter," President Snow replied, almost sarcastically.

"No, please don't let me stop you from making the Districts miserable," Aliss said daringly, scooting her chair back and standing up. "It must be very important work."

She walked out of the room, hands shaking with fear and anger. Her father's eyes burned holes in her back on the way out.

* * *

Aliss slammed the door to her room. She ripped the pins out of her hair and shrugged out of the dress, replacing it with a nightgown. A cold, dead weight had settled inside her, so she crawled into bed and pulled the thick quilt up to her chin, curling into a little ball. Meetings with her father always made her feel like this. He was a disturbing man.

Moonlight streamed through the glass windows, bathing everything in its pale glow. Aliss shuddered. The warmth of the blanket wasn't helping anything. Why did _he _have to be her father? Why did he even keep her alive? She'd criticized him and embarrassed him several times, but he let her live. He didn't care about her, obviously. It was so confusing.

A knock on the door brought Aliss out of her reverie. She turned and sat on her elbows, glaring at said door.

"Thea, if that's you, go away. I don't have the patience to put up with your crap tonight," she yelled.

"It's not Thea," a familiar voice said. "Can I come in, please?"

Aliss huffed, and thought for a moment. "Sure, Evan. Come in."

Evan was a guard her father had assigned about a year ago. Aliss was only two years younger, so he was good company. He was the closest thing to a friend she had. He opened the door and stepped into the moonlight cautiously, reading the expression on Aliss's face before saying or doing anything.

"I take it dinner didn't go too well?" he asked, sitting on the bed next to Aliss's feet.

"Does it ever?" she said.

Evan laughed nervously. "No, I guess not."

They sat in silence for a moment. Aliss studied Evan's boyish face. It was enhanced by his dark brown curls and big green eyes. He was cute, which was normally not good for a guard, however it worked for Evan. That baby face masked extreme accuracy with a gun.

"When did you paint that?" he asked suddenly, once again shocking Aliss out of a reverie.

"What?"

"When'd you paint that?" he repeated, pointing to a canvas. It portrayed a landscape of hilly forests bristling with frost and a sunset background. The light of the sun glinted off the frosty branches, creating the illusion of an icy fire. It was one of her better ones, so she kept it on display.

"About a week ago. Why?"

"Just wondering. It's really good," he said, rising off the bed for a closer look.

"Thanks," Aliss said, feeling slightly embarrassed. She always did when people commented on her work. "Hey..."

"What?" Evan said innocently.

Alice had suddenly noticed the cold feeling was gone. She rolled her eyes and got up off the bed too, drifting over to her desk and trailing her fingers over its soft wood top. Evan's eyes followed her._ Why do people always stare at me? _she thought. Maybe people found her unsettling. Aliss wasn't much of a people person to begin with due to her confinement, but add that to her ghostly appearance, she must make people uncomfortable. Self-consciously, Aliss looked down at herself. Her porcelain skin was the exact same color as the white nightgown. Her hair was almost silver. Even her eyes were the palest of blues._ I must look like a total freak. But then again..._she added, thinking of a man she saw on the street with blue hair, gold skin, and a bubblegum pink suit. _At least I don't try to look like a freak._

She glanced over to find Evan still gazing at her. Unlike most people, his gaze didn't flicker away when her eyes met his. Evan could be unsettling in his own ways, like how he seemed to know exactly what is going through your head a moment after you think it. Or how he stared at you even after you notice. And he keeps staring. And staring. And staring.

Aliss looked away, her cheeks flushing slightly. "You're kind of creepy when you do that, you know," she said jokingly. Even though it was kind of true.

Evan laughed. "Sorry, I guess it's a force of habit. No one's had the guts to tell me to my face before."

"But they said it behind your back?"

"Yeah."

"And you still do it?"

"Like I said, force of habit," he said, a smirk playing at the tips of his mouth. "Sometimes I do it just to annoy them."

They both laughed. Then Evan sighed.

"I should probably get back on duty," he said.

"Yeah, you probably should," Aliss replied, though she really didn't want him to. She needed someone to talk to, someone she could trust.

"I'll swing by again tomorrow," he said hastily, using his freaky mind reading skills. "Okay?"

"Okay, Evan. Goodnight."

"G'night."

* * *

When Aliss woke the next morning, she was confused. Her room was still dark, with the exception of the last remains of moonlight that trickled through her window. _It's still nighttime? _she thought. Aliss was a heavy sleeper; it took Thea barging into her room and screaming in her ear to rouse her most mornings. Not even a nightmare could wake her up when she slept, much to her disadvantage. So what was loud enough to do so now?

She heard it again. A thunking at her balcony. Gently sliding out of bed, Aliss got up to inspect it. Before she reached the door, however, it slowly slid open, two shadows blocking the river of moonlight. One enormous figure stepped into the room with an eerily quiet tread. Aliss froze, though the cool night breeze whipped her hair around her face.

The figure lunged toward her. It rammed into her, knocking them both to the floor with a loud thud. Aliss kicked and scratched, to no avail. The only response she got out of her attacker was a muffled "Omf!" that quickly resulted in her being thrown over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She still fought, but knew it was hopeless.

Then she remembered Evan.

"Help! Someone help! Evan! Evan! Help!" Aliss screamed. Her attacker quickly pulled her off of his shoulder and put his baseball-glove-sized hand over her mouth, but it was too late. His accomplice ran across the room and locked the door, seconds before slam that nearly rattled it off its hinges.

"Aliss!" she heard her friend call as he rammed against the locked door. "Aliss!"

"Let's go!" her attacker said. The men quickly sprinted out the back door, but were slowed by Aliss grabbing the frame at last second. They pried her fingers away, and then ran across the small balcony and onto a ladder. When they reached the ground, Aliss noticed a small, outdated car waiting with its engine running. The accomplice opened the trunk while the other man dropped her inside carelessly.

The last thing Aliss saw were her kidnappers' dark silhouettes against the bright moon.

* * *

**First chapter done! And yes, I know, I have a bit of explaining to do about the whole chapter rearranging thing.**

**Originally, this was two separate chapters. However, I soon realized that it would be more efficient for me to just merge some chapters together. I am very sorry for the confusion. The previous chapters are STILL THE SAME, they're just put together to make longer chapters. This means that instead of having ten chapters, there is now only five. I will stick to this new policy, so it might take me a bit longer to write chapters, but when they are published they will be complete and there is less chance of a cliffhanger, even though this chapter does have one. Thank you for your understanding, and I'm really sorry for the trouble. I do think that this will improve my story though, now that the chapters are longer. Also, I am going through them and changing stuff like spelling mistakes.**

**I don't own **_**Hunger Games**_**. Suzanne Collins does.**


	2. On the Other Side

CHAPTER TWO: On the Other Side

Evan's shift was almost up. In fact, he could see Rosemary making her way up the hall right now. Exhausted and hungry after a five hour shift watching Aliss, he slowly began to gather his stuff so Rose could have room for hers.

That's when he heard the scream.

Aliss's voice chimed along the corridor, calling his name in fright. Horror was threaded through the sound and it draped over Evan like a thick cloth. He dropped his belongings and rammed into the locked door, trying to break it free.

"Aliss! Aliss!" he yelled. Rosemary was suddenly there, smacking into the door beside him. Between the two of them, the door gave in, swinging open and hitting the adjacent wall with a loud crash.

The scent of lavender still hung in the room. Aliss always carried the smell of lavender with her, even though she'd assured Evan that she wore no perfume of any kind. Moonlight illuminated the scene before him. The bed lay unmade and empty. Curtains danced in the night breeze coming from the open door. Aliss was nowhere to be found.

Evan ran to the balcony just in time to see two men struggling to get Aliss into the trunk of their car. She fought furiously, especially for someone her size, but was soon overpowered by her kidnappers. Rosemary called in the Peacekeepers as Evan watched the Mockingjays drive away with the president's only daughter.

* * *

The Peacekeepers identified the car that took Aliss. There were only three registered in the Capitol: one belonged to a batty old lady in South Square, one was featured in a museum as the car that a winning tribute for the Hunger Games once drove, and the last was stolen from a junkyard last Tuesday. The Guard found the latter on the side of the road near a fishing dock in District 4 several hours after Aliss's kidnapping. It was empty.

After the Peacekeepers had located and brought the car back to the Capitol for "further investigation"—their excuse for literally _everything_—they came to search Aliss's room.

"Move aside," a burly Peacekeeper said. "We need to search this room."

"Why?" Evan asked innocently.

"For further investigation," the Peacekeeper stated, pushing Evan aside.

Rosemary stepped right in his path. "You aren't getting inside that room without a warrant, Felix," she said sternly, daring the man to contradict her. He was at least a head taller than Rose, but she could intimidate the venom right out of a trackerjacker. Felix left, grumbling about lawyers and trouble.

"Thanks, Rose," Evan whispered as he walked past her into Aliss's room.

"Anytime," she said, winking.

Evan opened the door, once again being hit by the smell of lavender. He didn't know where to begin. Aliss definitely had contraband she didn't want her father knowing about, he just didn't know what. It wasn't like he and Aliss sat down and gossiped about how much they hated President Snow and where they kept their complaints.

With Rosemary's help, Evan managed to confiscate six Dorris Radely books, a beautiful painting of a mockingjay, and a couple other things he knew Aliss wouldn't want the Peacekeepers to find. He felt as though he was missing something. Aliss expressed her emotions through art; not just painting and drawing, but writing and poetry as well. Evan was aware of the extent Aliss despised her father. He knew that this couldn't have been all of it. But, whatever "it" was, if he couldn't find it, the Peacekeepers certainly wouldn't be able to. Aliss was clever; she would have hidden it safely.

Evan and Rosemary quickly evacuated the room minutes before Felix came stomping down the hall, warrant in hand. Evan temporarily stashed Aliss's things in his bag.

"There," Felix said, waving the warrant in Rosemary's face. "A warrant for the investigation of Aliss Snow's bedrooms. Signed by the President himself."

Rosemary made a show of snatching the warrant from the guard's hands and skimming through it thoughtfully. She handed it back to Felix. "Yep, looks good. Go right in."

The Peacekeepers filed in, each giving their own nasty glare to Rose. Evan chuckled.

As the last Peacekeeper closed the door, she rolled her eyes. "Idiots. Why don't you grab your stuff and we'll get a bite to eat, eh?"

Understanding, Evan carefully took the bag filled with Aliss's stuff and followed Rose down the hall.

* * *

When Rose and Evan walked into the cafeteria, all conversation stopped. Rose looked straight ahead, ignoring the sudden silence, but Evan scowled at every one of the Peacekeepers until they stared at their feet shamefully. The bag on his shoulder felt heavy as lead. Rose had offered to stop by his rooms and put it up, but he declined. What if someone found it and opened it? Then where would they be?

They picked a table at the corner of the spacious room. Uneasy chatter had started among the people again, but Evan noticed that they constantly glanced back at Rose and him._ They know about Aliss's kidnapping_, Evan thought. _They blame us. _

"Evan? Evan!" Rose said, snapping her fingers in front of his face. She looked at him with motherly concern when he jumped. "You okay?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." Evan said dismissively.

"Oh. Okay. So, do you want anything?"

"Want what?"

"Anything to eat."

"Oh, um...no, I'm good."

Rosemary raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, Rose. I'm fine," Evan said, scowling.

She shrugged, undoing her long red waves out of their tight bun. Her hair had the slightest hint of grey if you looked hard enough, to match the fine wrinkles on her freckled face. Rosemary was only thirty years of age, but she worked hard to get where she was today. "If you say so."

The static on the intercom cackled. All noise ceased in preparation for the announcement.

"Peacekeepers, President Snow would just like to inform you that his daughter, Aliss Snow, has just been located and rescued from her abductors," it said. Cheers erupted throughout the cafeteria. Rose and Evan glanced at each other, smiling.

The intercom continued. "Also, would the two guards Evan Summers and Rosemary Fink please report to their commanding officer's quarters. I repeat, would the two guards Evan Summers and Rosemary Fink please report to their commanding officer's quarters. Thank you."

Evan Summers and Rosemary Fink glanced at each other again, no longer smiling. They got up from their table and walked the long length of the cafeteria, a hundred pairs of eyes staring after them.

* * *

Doreb Brun was an honest man. He told you what needed to be said, nothing more, nothing less. He had a steady gaze that could rip the truth right from your mouth in a red-hot second. He was loyal and true. But one thing he couldn't stand was stupidity.

For this reason, Evan stopped by his rooms to dispose of the bag. Then, he and Rose made their way to Brun's quarters.

When they entered the small office, Brun was looking at them in a peculiar way. Not pity, or anger, or even disappointment. No, his expression was...joy.

"Peacekeepers!" he exclaimed. Rose and Evan saluted. Brun laughed. "At ease. I know you must have questions, so why don't you ask them now?"

"Is Aliss really here?" Evan asked.

"On her way right now. Poor girl's had herself a fright, but she's all in one piece, far as I heard," Brun answered.

"Are we...going to get fired?" Rose said.

"Well, of course not! Why'd you think a thing like that?" Brun said, astonished.

"Because the President's daughter was kidnapped under our supervision."

Brun raised his brows. "Do you _want_ to be discharged, Fink?"

"No, sir! Of course not!" Rose said.

"Then shut your trap about it. Far as the president's concerned, she's found, so there's no need for punishment."

Rosemary nodded.

"Okay...so, if we aren't in trouble, then why did you call us to your office, sir?" Evan asked cautiously.

"Oh, that's an easy one. See, I'm supposed to catalogue your view of events that night to be sure they match up."

"Oh, okay."

Evan and Rose wrote down their stories on pieces of paper provided to them by Brun. They handed in their papers, and were dismissed.

"Wow, that was easy," Rose remarked on the way back to Evan's rooms. Evan nodded in agreement. They grabbed the bag (which was, thankfully, untouched) and headed back to the cafeteria. Peacekeepers stared at them in amazement, but said nothing. When they sat down at their table, Evan realized he was starving. He ordered a huge plate of roast beef, complete with mashed potatoes, sweet corn, buttered rolls, and green beans. Rose laughed as he scarfed down the food.

"What happened to 'not hungry, Rose, leave me alone,'" she mocked.

"I don't sound like that!" Evan complained, mouth full.

"Okay..."

The intercom's familiar static sounded. A hush rolled over the crowd.

"President Snow would like to inform you that his daughter is in the Capitol building. No one is to come to her chambers until further notice. Thank you," though the announcement was over, the static fizzled on. Finally, the voice came through the intercom again. "As of now, all guards for Aliss Snow will report to duty on their designated schedules. I repeat, all guards for Aliss Snow will report to duty on their designated schedules. Thank you."

Both Evan and Rosemary looked at the time. "Hey, Evan! It's your watch!" Rose said. Stuffing as much food possible into his mouth, Evan got up from the table and hastily walked across the cafeteria to report to duty.

* * *

The wing where Aliss lived was completely empty. Not a servant or maid traveled along its deserted halls. Only Evan, with his gravy-stained uniform and beat-up luggage bag, shuffled along the elegant tile floors. When he finally got to Aliss's room, he took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" Aliss asked.

"Evan."

He heard the thumping of feet and then the door swung open, revealing Aliss. Her watercolor blue eyes were wide with excitement. Her silvery-blonde hair surrounded her ivory skin like a halo. She wore an oversized cotton jacket and jeans. Smiling, she threw her arms around him.

"I'm back!" she said happily.

Evan, though a little taken back by her forwardness, hugged Aliss back.

She smelled of blood and roses.

* * *

**Another cliffhanger! Sorry, but I gotta keep you interested somehow, right? :p**

**Thanks all for your reviews. It's nice to know that people actually read my story, and are interested enough to help me improve it. So I thank Q for your valuable time.**

**-Smurf ^^**


	3. When One Door Closes

CHAPTER THREE: When One Door Closes

Aliss awoke to complete darkness. The car had stopped.

Suddenly, the door swung open and she was pelted with droplets of water and whipped with freezing wind. Two men stood in front of a terrifying yet fascinating sight. A huge purple cloud enveloped the whole entire sky, leaving nothing but its dark swirling currents. Water came down in thick sheets made of drops, which were scattered by the fierce wind. _Rain, _Aliss thought._ It's rain_. Or more like a storm. Both of which Aliss had never witnessed. Since District 11 grew all the plants, there was really no need for rain. Drinking water was shipped from District 1. Though Aliss had seen clouds, they looked nothing like this massive beast. They were always puffy and white. Aliss had never experienced such cold outside before either. The Capitol always had perfect weather.

She tore her gaze away from this new-found phenomenon to finally assess her kidnappers. One man was average sized, with skin only slightly darker than Aliss's and curly brown hair that fell into his eyes. The other man was freakishly tall and muscular, with chocolaty brown skin and long black dread locks. This was obviously the man who had manhandled Aliss back in the Capitol. Speaking of which...where were they now?

The tall man, once again, picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. Both began running—from _something_, it seemed—at a fabulous pace.

Aliss glared at her captors. "I have legs you know!"

If they heard her, they didn't show it.

To her left was scruffy underbrush and grass rooted among white sand that hid sullen little huts. To her right was the vast ocean, its pearly grey waters slamming against the rock along the coast. She gasped. It was one of the most beautiful sights she'd ever seen. This was the highest the water had been in a while, for its foamy fingers stretched mere inches from the huts. Aliss watched in horror as a tremendous wave crashed onto a tiny dock, snapping in into bits like a toothpick. Its splinters flew into the creamy sand.

Then it all stopped. The thunderous boom of the waves ceased. The wind was silenced. And each little raindrop was suspended in the air, no bigger than dots of dew Aliss saw on her balcony in the mornings. The curly haired man cursed. They fell into the wet sand, streaking her nightgown brown and getting sand in her eyes. The men rapidly began crawling toward a patch of grass behind a hut. Aliss followed, dew-rain streaming down her back.

She saw the reason for their fears when they reached the grass. An aircraft appeared amidst the frozen raindrops. Aliss and her kidnappers lay there, paralyzed with terror, as it scouted the area with a blinding light that bounced off the raindrops, creating a thousand little rainbows. After what seemed to be an agonizingly long time, it left. Before it did, however, it excreted a cloud of greenish gas from a tiny tube. It disappeared, and everything went back into motion.

Again, Curly cursed. She was almost swept up again, until her threatening scowl stopped Tall from doing so. Curly put his hand over his mouth and pointed to it. Aliss did the same, getting an approving thumbs-up in return. Then, they all began sprinting. Aliss didn't know exactly where, but when she looked back at the grass, it was all withered and black, the green smoke still spreading throughout the beach.

They did not run for a long time; however, Curly and Tall seemed to want to get closer to the rocky shore. Did they not _see_ the huge waves breaking the rock down into pebbles? Were they planning to _swim_ to safety? Did they even know where safety _was_? These questions were zipping through her mind when it occurred to her._ I could escape now_, Aliss thought suddenly._ I could run and get the aircraft's attention. Someone is bound to be on board. I could go home_.

But what was home, exactly? A huge, marble building filled to the brim with nothing but empty memories? A place where angry maids hollered in your ear and smacked you with a switch? Where you had to live with your father who carried the smell of blood on his breath? _No_, Aliss decided. _That is not home._

She thought of Evan. He wasn't home either. He was a friend who was probably worried sick about her. That or dead. For the first time during her abduction, Aliss wished he was here. But no, she couldn't say that she wished she was there, with empty feelings and angry maids and horrific fathers, even if her one true friend was mixed in. So, she continued to run.

Eventually, they were face-to-face with the slippery rocks. Along with the cool rain, they were showered with salty sea spray as the waves pounded against stone. Aliss was surprised to find that the ocean was warm, despite its freezing breeze. She watched with amazement as Tall jumped into a nearly invisible niche in the rock. She heard a low whistle, and then Curly motioned for her to jump in too. She leapt in without hesitation. Instead of hitting wet rock as she expected, Aliss felt the strain of muscle as Tall caught her in his arms. She blinked, surprised at this act of decency. The water was at Tall's waist, meaning it probably wouldn't have done any serious harm to her. He let her down into the water. With a splash, Curly joined them.

The only exit from the little hole was a tiny gap between two rocks. Tall squeezed inside, just barely fitting. Aliss slipped in, followed by Curly. Before her was a narrow tunnel made of jagged rocks and huge gaps in which water blasted through. The rocks were slick with algae. The water was nearly to Aliss's collarbone and more was streaming in every minute. Aliss gulped. She wasn't the best swimmer, and frankly, the ocean terrified her now.

But on the bright side, at least they were away from poisonous gasses and deadly aircrafts.

As they climbed through the narrow tunnel, they were constantly abused by the powerful waves that pounded them into the rough rock with their force. Often there were protrusions in the rock, which would provide excellent grasp if it weren't so slippery with algae. Several times a wave would slam into Aliss, knock her into the rocks, and leave her struggling to reach the surface of the water. Tall and Curly helped as much as they could, but they had their own issues. Aliss also noted that the water was getting deeper as they went. It was at her collarbone, but was now at least to her chin.

Finally, they reached the dead end...sort of. The tunnel itself ended, but Aliss could see the lip of a small opening that probably led to open ocean.

"You swim?" Curly gasped. Aliss made a so-so gesture with her hand. He nodded knowingly. "Jobee will help. Follow me."

Aliss turned to Jobee (previously named Tall) and he nodded. Curly was already submerged. A few seconds later, Aliss dunked her head under and was surprised to find that she could open her eyes under water. She quickly tried to catch up with Curly's faintly blurry image in the water. The currents tugged at her limbs, tossing her back and forth. She could see the immense shape Curly was swimming towards; an underwater cave maybe? She wasn't sure.

After about thirty seconds, Aliss could feel her lungs burning. They cried for air. After forty seconds, they were screaming, begging, burning for oxygen. She knew she couldn't swim for much longer without passing out. She slowly relieved the bad air in her lungs, nervously watching the cascade of silver bubbles stream from her nose. It stopped soon, all air gone entirely. Then little white spots danced in her vision. She followed Curly like a beacon though, watching his dark clothes blend with the shimmers of light passing through her sight. Finally, the reflex to breathe overcame everything else, and she inhaled.

Salt water burned through her throat and nose instead of the sweet air she craved. She struggled to regain control over herself, but to no avail. Soon she felt Tall's strong arms wrap around her frame and swim with her. Aliss helped as much as she could while drowning, but soon the world went black.

* * *

When Aliss resurfaced, Jobee's face was inches from her own. Her first instinct was to push him away, but she found that she was too weak to do so. It didn't matter though, because as soon as Jobee realized she was awake, he backed off. Aliss gasped, and then sputtered as several ounces of salt water flooded from her nose and mouth, dribbling down her face. Previous events replayed in her mind, and she was slightly ashamed that she tried to push Jobee off of her. He was only trying to save her. CPR, right?

As she coughed, Aliss did a quick survey of her surroundings. They were in what seemed to be some sort of grotto. A small pool of water gently lapped against the dark sand, oblivious to the huge thunderstorm outside. The sand wasn't really sand at all though; it was tiny pieces of rock, similar to the material of the cave. Aliss noticed that the grotto was really a tunnel. Jobee and Curly had a flashlight that illuminated everything within a two foot radius, and that was all.

"Are you...okay?" Jobee asked in a gruff voice.

"Yes," Aliss croaked.

There was silence for a moment. Finally, Aliss sighed.

"Look," she said. "I'll make you a deal. In reality, I'm not too excited to go back home. So, if you tell me what's going on, I won't try to escape. Deal?"

Curly and Jobee looked at each other and nodded. "Deal."

"So...Why don't we just start with your names?"

"Okay...this is Jobee," Curly began, pointing to the tall guy. "And I'm Cecil. We're Mockingjays, I suppose. We were assigned to capture someone in the Capitol building and bring them back to District 13 with us. We didn't know we would be kidnapping a twelve-year-old girl though."

Aliss bristled. "I am _not_ twelve. I am fifteen, thank you. And there is no 'District 13.' At least, not anymore."

"Well, you're wrong about the last part. There is a District 13. We live underground," Cecil said.

"And the Capitol just lets you live there?"

"Yeah, sort of. You see, District 13 didn't just mine graphite like people think. We also harvested nuclear power. We have a whole bunch of nuclear bombs in our possession, so the Capitol leaves us alone."

"What about District 12?"

"No, they just had coal. A lot of them are with us now though, them being Katniss Everdeen's district and all," Jobee said.

"So are we going to District 13?" Aliss asked, suddenly excited.

"Yup. In fact, we're in District 4 right now." Of course! How could she have not seen it before? District 4 was seafood.

"Um...so why are we in a cave?"

"Well, during the Dark Days, District 13 built a network of tunnels that lead to the different districts and the Capitol," Cecil explained. "The Peacekeepers were too close for us to use the ones in 1, 2, and 3, but we managed to get them of our trail long enough for us to escape here."

Aliss was beginning to understand. But there were still pieces to the story missing. It was like trying to paint a picture without the right colors of paint.

"Okay, can we ask you some questions now?" Cecil said impatiently. Aliss nodded.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"You mean you don't know?" Aliss said, startled. She remembered his words from earlier. _We didn't know we would be kidnapping a twelve-year-old girl though._ She believed they didn't know that the president had a daughter; no one but the Capitol building's Peacekeepers, maids, and Avoxes did. But she at least thought they'd have some clue as to whose room they'd be intruding.

Cecil rolled his eyes. "If we knew, I wouldn't be asking, now would I?"

Aliss scowled. She was beginning to wonder whether she liked Cecil or not. He seemed to think that she was vapid. "For your information, my name is Aliss Snow."

Cecil finally shut up and stared at her. Jobee's eyes widened. "You mean as in..._President_ Snow?"

"Yup. You just kidnapped the President's daughter. Good for you," Aliss said sarcastically, trying to come off as indifferent.

"But...the President doesn't have a daughter," Cecil stuttered.

"As far as you know," Aliss said, a hint of a smile playing on her lips. "Which is obviously not as much as you think."

"You don't look anything like him!" Cecil exclaimed, on the verge of a panic attack.

"There's this thing really popular in the Capitol; it's called surgery. But you're right, I do favor my mother. I still have my father's nose though," she said bitterly. Aliss had seen pictures of her mother, who was a Peacekeeper by the name of Raechelle. She was a short, but healthy, blonde woman with ivory skin and light blue eyes. But her nose was flat and smooth unlike Aliss and her father's, whose were more button-like. President Snow's nose was the one thing that hadn't been altered. Aliss believed that, like so many of the other things he did, it was just to annoy her.

"Oh my GOD!" Jobee burst. He grabbed Cecil by the shoulders and shook him. "We kidnapped the President's daughter!"

"WAIT!" Cecil said. "This is good."

"It is?" Jobee questioned, dropping his hands.

"Yes. This is the President's _daughter_. How far do you think he'll go to get her back?" Cecil reasoned. "It's like what he's doing to Peeta and Annie. We have an emotional weapon now!"

Something Cecil said got Aliss's attention. "What do you mean, 'what he's doing to Peeta and Annie'? Aren't they in District 13 with Katniss?"

"No," Cecil said, sneering. "He's holding them hostage. _You_ of all people should know that."

Anger broiled up inside Aliss. But she kept her composure.

"Actually, I don't. If you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly a daddy's-girl," she said.

"But you're still his daughter, right? I mean, he would do anything to get you back?" Jobee asked.

"I wouldn't count on it. The hatred is mutual."

Cecil looked startled. "You hate him?"

"Don't you?"

"Yeah, but...he's your father."

"Ugh, don't remind me. Being my father doesn't change the way I think about his actions toward the citizens of Panem. He's indecently cruel to you," Aliss said. "Can we just stop talking about this and get a move on? It's not my favorite topic."

"Okay," Cecil said, still looking at her strangely.

Silently, they stood up and walked into the darkness of the tunnels.

* * *

**Okay, I know Chapter Three is kinda different from before, but reading the other chapter...well, let's just say I thought the ending sucked. So, I decided to redo it. Aliss's "breakdown" had been bothering me for a while because it's not really her thing. I don't want to portray her as a whimpering crybaby, and, to tell you the truth, I'm not very good with the dramatic breakdown kind of writing. Tell me which ending you like better.**

**-Smurf ^^**


	4. Dirty Tricks

CHAPTER FOUR: Dirty Tricks

Evan was utterly convinced that this new Aliss was not the real Aliss at all. For the past week, he noticed several things that were so un-Aliss-like that his original seed of suspicion grew into a full-blown theory. Only little things, like the fact she made her bed in the mornings and her laugh, which was once breezy and free, was now choked and hysterical. These things only Evan noticed, for everyone else was either too distant from Aliss or too pleased with these changes to care.

Of course there were bigger indicators that some others noted. Like the fact Aliss was high-strung and tense all the time. Or her constant twitching and fidgeting. Or the smell of blood and roses that laced the room with their heavy scents. Evan had found the source of the rose smell, at least. A bouquet of white roses, delivered from the President, sat on Aliss's bedside table. They produced such a strong odor that Evan had to hold his breath whenever he came within a three foot radius of them. The flowers were obviously genetically altered, for it had been nearly a week and they hadn't so much as withered. Either way, this presented yet another indicator—Aliss would have thrown those flowers off the balcony the minute they were delivered. She hated her father.

Evan had yet to place the source of the blood smell.

Though these were all major changes in her behavior, perhaps the largest sign that something was amiss was the fact that Aliss had not touched, mentioned, or so much as looked at a paintbrush or pencil in her week of return. She should have been dying to get her hands on a fresh, new canvas—instead, she ignored every art material in the room. It was so bizarre, so unordinary, so...so..._weird_; Evan just couldn't fathom it. That's when he really knew that something was wrong.

So he watched this new Aliss toss restlessly in bed—yet another indicator; Aliss slept like a rock, waking to only the severest of nightmares—trying to think this over. It was obviously the Mockingjays' doing. They'd kidnapped the real Aliss and replaced her with this new one, thinking that nobody would know the difference. How, Evan had yet to comprehend. But he knew someone who could.

Before Evan approached anyone with higher rank, he needed to talk to someone he could really trust. When Rosemary padded down the hallway for her night shift of watching Aliss—President Snow had ordered every guard on duty to watch his daughter in her room while she slept—he handed her a note that read:

_Rose, Doe and Deer at 9. Important._

Even though the note was discreet, Evan knew Rosemary would come. He had the feeling that she knew something was wrong as well.

* * *

When Evan arrived at Buck's Buffet and Salad Bar located on Doe Avenue, Rose had already gotten them a table and was munching away on a crispy green salad. He looked at the clock to see if he was late. It read 8:55am.

"So what's up?" she asked as he sat down.

"Have you noticed anything different with Aliss since she came back?" Evan questioned bluntly.

Rosemary sighed. "I guess you would notice, but I didn't. She's probably just in shock. Let her breathe."

"Rose, she hasn't picked up a paintbrush all week. It's...odd," he said, though 'odd' didn't even begin to cover it.

"Like I said, she's probably just in shock—"

"She's _not_ in shock. It'd take a hell of a lot to shock her, of all people."

"Why?" Rose said, swallowing.

Evan glared darkly. "You don't know what her dad used to do to her."

"What'd you mean? You were hired after me," Rose said.

"She painted it. What he's done."

Rose was silenced for a moment. "Okay...then if she's not in shock, what's your theory?"

So, Evan told her everything, even his plans to tell Brun about it. After he was done, Rose looked a bit paler, but managed to maintain the skeptical expression on her face.

"Evan...I don't think you should tell Brun," she advised.

"What? Why?"

"Because he's bound to tell President Snow and—"

"And what?" Evan interrupted. Why couldn't she understand?

"And...well, we could get fired," Rose finished lamely.

Anger flared inside Evan. "Fired? You're worried about getting_ fired_? What about Aliss, who was just _abducted_ from her room? Do you really think she would care if we were fired if it meant saving her?"

"Yes, actually, I think she would. Aliss is a big girl. She can take care of herself."

"Against a whole army who wants to kill her father? I don't think so."

"Look, Evan—"

"No, Rosemary, you look. I'm worried about Aliss. You don't have to come with me to tell Brun, but I'm not going to risk her life just to cover your ass!"

Rose's face turned as red as her hair. She stood abruptly, grabbed her bag, and slapped some bills on the table.

"If you don't want my advice," she hissed through clenched teeth, "then don't ask for it!"

With that, she stormed out of the restaurant.

* * *

Despite Rose's so called "advice," Evan decided to tell Brun about Aliss. Whatever was wrong, it needed taken care of.

When he got to Brun's office, he was having second thoughts. What if Brun didn't believe him? Then what? But the thought of Aliss being slapped around by the Mockingjays gave him just enough guts to knock on the door.

The door opened, and Brun looked down on him. "Summers? What're you doing here?"

"I've come with information about Aliss Snow, sir," Evan said.

"Aliss? Well, you're a little late. We already found her."

"I don't think it's really her, sir."

"No?" Brun said, smirking. "Then who is it?"

"I-I don't know, sir. I'm thinking it's some kind of...of Mockingjay technology. They've sent us a fake Aliss while they keep the real one for information and bait."

Brun got a peculiar look on his face, one that Evan had never seen there before. He didn't know what it was, but he suddenly wished he'd taken Rosemary's advice.

"Well, Summers," Brun said slowly. "I hate to do this, but I'm going to have to take you to President Snow."

* * *

Evan leaned against the stone wall of his cell sadly. How could he have been so stupid? Blood and roses; the _President's_ smell.

Brun had taken him right to President Snow's quarters. Evan thought this a good sign, that it meant Brun took him seriously. When they entered the office, something felt familiar to Evan...smelled familiar...

That's when he knew. It was not the Mockingjays who sent the duplicate Aliss. It was the President.

"President Snow, sir," Brun said. "Summers says he thinks that your daughter is still in danger."

The President looked up at Evan, his snake-like eyes glittering. "Is that so?"

"Yes sir," Brun continued. "He thinks that the Aliss we rescued is a decoy, set up by the Mockinjays. He thinks she's fake."

"Fake?" President Snow laughed. "Please. Even_ we _don't have that kind of technology. So how could some poor, coal-mining, insignificant rebels come across it? Besides, what leads you to believe the girl who is sleeping in my daughter's room is a phony? Do you think you know her better than me?"

Anger, disappointment, and hatred rose up inside Evan. All he wanted to do was slap this man in front of him. Hard. Instead, he said: "Yes, Mr. President. I do."

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he regretted them. The President had him locked up for insubordination. Evan was stuck in a jail cell with a bunch of criminals who hated him simply because he was a Peacekeeper. Right now, Evan hated himself, too—for being so stupid, for supporting the wrong side, and for failing Aliss. The _real_ Aliss.

Footsteps echoed throughout the corridors. Instantly, moans came from the cells, some begging, some threatening, some even promising eternal servitude to be let free.

"Please, lady! Don't leave me here!"

"Come here, sweetcheeks. I promise I won't hurt ya..."

"I love you! Just let me go! Please let me go!"

"I shouldn't be in here! I'm innocent!"

Finally, a single Peacekeeper strode into Evan's sight. And what a welcome sight it was.

"Rose!" he exclaimed, running toward the bars that separated him from the rest of the world. Rose marched over to meet him.

"Evan," she said. "I got the key." She took a plastic card from her pocket and swiped it through the slot. The bars receded into the floor.

They ran outside the back gate of the prison, shouts of fury following them. They ducked behind a desk when they reached the outside.

"I can't tell you—" Evan began.

"How glad you are to see me, how sorry you are, yeah, yeah," Rose said. "I have something more important to say. I'm getting you out of here. Follow me to the outside parking garage. There's a black hovercraft in parking garage C. Get into it. Don't speak until you're spoken to. And when you get in, show this to the driver." She pulled out a small cracker and held it out to Evan. On it was an image of a bird. Not just any bird...

"Rose," Evan gasped. "You're a Mockingjay?"

She nodded. "I'm originally from District Three, remember?" There was a crash somewhere. Rosemary shoved the cracker into Evan's hands. "Come on!"

They ran in the direction of the parking garage. A Peacekeeper met them around the corner.

"Hey, what're you—?" He was cut off by a punch from Evan.

They ran for a good five minutes before the alarms sounded. Three Peacekeepers, one male, two females, blocked their path. Evan hit the male with the butt of his gun while Rose shot one female in the knee and kicked the other in the ribs. They sprinted on, meeting two or three more Peacekeepers along the way. No one sustained permanent damage. Rose's arm was bleeding and Evan had several bruises, but other than that they were fine. The other Peacekeepers, however, weren't doing so hot. Only three were shot, no wounds fatal as far as Evan could tell.

They were in the parking garage, at the end of section B in fact, when they were pounced on. Ten Peacekeepers attacked them.

Before the Peacekeepers had even registered that they had cornered the traitors, three were down on the ground with gunshot wounds to their knees and shoulders, and two were unconscious due to a blow to the head. The rest recovered and fumbled for their guns. Two more down. A sleek black hovercraft whirred by.

"Go!" Rose screamed at Evan. He did as he was told, thinking that he owed her this. He sprinted across the concrete, focused only on that hovercraft. He jumped in and turned, expecting Rose to be at his 6.

Evan watched as the remaining three Peacekeepers shot Rosemary to the ground.

The door slammed behind him. He banged on the window in vain, watching his friend collapse, her limbs folding themselves in unnatural positions. Blood pooled around her head, her shoulders, her legs. So much blood. It was everywhere.

"ROSE!" he screamed, punching the tinted window. "ROSEMARY!"

He was answered only by her blank stare as the driver flew away.

Evan stared out the tinted window, a numb feeling spreading throughout his limbs. Rose? Dead? Impossible. She was so strong, so alive, but...

But there was just so much blood.

A sudden jolt slammed him back into reality. This wasn't over. Evan slid across the leather seat and hit the opposite window.

"Buckle your seatbelt!" the driver called. Evan did as he was told. They were going sideways, flying over the wall. Suddenly they jerked down. A pinging sound followed.

"What's that?" he asked.

The driver simply said, "Bullets."

They zipped past rows and rows of cars. Evan didn't see much else. He was swung around in his seatbelt, unable to do anything except try not to grunt every time he was thrown into the air and crashed back down onto the seat. He did notice, however, when the driver flew off the side of the parking garage...three stories up.

They zoomed over hundreds of cars and hovercrafts along the highway. The driver made a stomach churning drop and veered among the vehicles on the road, eventually slowing down to the recommended speed limit. Evan could see why Rose and the driver chose a black hovercraft. He could count at least three others exactly like this one from his limited view out the window. Rose...

He finally took time to look at the driver. She was a woman about Rose's age, except much taller with caramel colored skin and sleek black hair pulled into a smooth ponytail. Her facial features were sharp and angular. She was obviously upset, her jaw working and her hands clenched the controls so tight that her knuckles faded white. The look she gave him in the mirror was filled with acid.

"You're Evan, right?" she said stiffly. Evan nodded and handed her the cracker. She accepted it, saying nothing else.

Finally, she sighed. "Under the seat you'll find clothes. Change into them." She pressed a button and a black wall separated the front and back seats.

Evan fished around under the seat, found said clothes, and changed into them. Before knocking on the glass wall, he stuffed his gun into his waistband.

Soon, they stopped at a general store on the outskirts of the Capitol. The driver motioned for Evan to come in with her.

"By the way," he asked as the driver locked the hovercraft, "what's your name?"

"Thistel," she said hesitantly. "My name is Thistel."

They stepped into the tiny general store. Thistel waved to the owner, who sat behind the counter, hidden among various shelves. She marched straight to a shelf in the "Health and Beauty" section and picked up a container of hair dye. Without explanation, she bought the hair dye and asked the owner:

"Can he use this in the bathroom?"

"Sure. Go ahead," he answered reasonably.

Thistel handed Evan the hair dye. "Be quick, okay? We don't want to be late for our party."

Understanding, Evan nodded and headed toward the restroom sign. He heard Thistel casually explaining that they were going to a party and that Evan's color just wouldn't do...

* * *

Evan stared at his reflection in the hovercraft. His dark brown curls were now a light ginger color. He wasn't too sure how he felt about it yet, but he didn't really have a choice. Without the hair change, he would be found and arrested quickly. Even _with_ the hair change he might be found and arrested quickly.

Evan looked over at Thistel. They hadn't said a single word to each other. She had changed into a Peacekeeper's uniform while Evan had been dying his hair. It scared the crap out of him at first, but when he realized it was Thistel, he relaxed a fraction. Until he noticed that the uniform came complete with a gun.

This was the plan: They were driving to the train station where they would board a train disguised as a Peacekeeper and a District 11 rebel. They would travel to District 11, where Thistel would lead Even to the prison. From there he would escape and hide. There was this huge lake, smack in the middle of District 11, used for irrigating and drinking water. The lake was so big that it took a ferry to transport people across it. Evan was instructed to hide in the hut closest to the ferry sign, where Thistel would later find him and bring him to the safety of District 13, the supposed hideout for the Mockingjay army.

Before they got on the train, Thistel handed him a purple pill.

"What's this?" Evan asked.

"Swallow it if you're caught. We don't need the Capitol having any more of an advantage," was all she said.

Evan looked down at the tiny purple pill, gulping. He certainly hoped that he wouldn't have to use it.

* * *

**I know...it sucks. But it's a war. Not everybody can make it through the story. I'm sorry. :'(**

**I assume you're seeing my pattern here. One chapter for Aliss, one chapter for Evan, and so on. I do this so readers don't get confused, and I'm going to try to stick to this pattern, though there may be a couple exceptions.**

**-Smurf ^^**


	5. Travelling to District 13

CHAPTER FIVE: Travelling to District 13

Jobee said that it would take about a week to reach District 13. Aliss had slumped slightly at the thought of doing nothing but walking for a straight week, but as it turned out, the caves were actually pretty interesting. Eventually the little grotto had smoothed into a narrow tunnel that had trickling streams and even a little shrimp life. Those tunnels would often empty into huge caverns held up by thick pillars created over years and years of limestone contaminated water dripping down from the ceiling. These caverns were the place that the three reluctant companions slept, because even though the ground was wet and the air was stale and chilly, it was better than running across Panem while Peacekeepers were hunting you.

Aliss liked Jobee. Despite the way his immense size might portray him, in reality Jobee was gentle and kindhearted. He talked to Aliss as though they weren't fleeing the President's wrath. It was nice to have a normal conversation with someone for once, even under the circumstances.

She wasn't sure how she felt about Cecil yet. He'd ceased criticizing her, but that didn't mean he'd fully accepted her company. In fact, he'd sent more than one glare her way. Aliss didn't know if it was because she was the President's daughter, or if he just didn't like her, or what. After her first couple attempts at conversation, she just gave up and ignored him until he showed any friendly interest towards her.

One night when Jobee and Aliss were gathered around the meager glow of the flashlights eating roots they'd gathered from a nearby pond, Cecil finally approached. He marched up to her, sat down, and asked, "Pass me a root, will you?"

And that was the start of a strained and difficult friendship.

* * *

Eventually caverns became less frequent and tunnels became less smooth. Aliss took this as a good sign. As much as she enjoyed the caves, it would be nice to see the sky again. She was a bit anxious at the thought of arriving to District 13, though. She didn't know the people, or anything about the place. But that really wasn't too different from living in the Capitol. Hopefully, these people would be a bit more pleasant.

Finally, after days and days of walking, there was a dead end at a tunnel. Of course, they'd hit a couple dead ends on their journey, but none of those had trap doors to accompany them. Aliss watched as Cecil examined the door, pulled an old metal key from his pack, and stuck it in the keyhole. There was a click and the door swung open, causing a cloud of black dust to erupt from the ground.

When the dust cleared, Aliss got a good glance at the remains of District 13. Heaps that must have once been buildings littered the black, sooty ground. The only recognizable structure was the Justice Building, and even that was hardly more than rubble. A dry, hot wind blew ash off the ground. Majestic mountains stood off to the side, quite far away from the village before them. That must have been where the nuclear power was harvested.

Aliss followed Jobee and Cecil out of the tunnel, which was carved in the side of a hill, and stepped into a big pile of soot, staining her whole foot black. In fact, just being in the open had freckled her nightgown and her arms with black dots. No telling what her face and hair looked like.

Jobee closed the door. Aliss was surprised at how well it was camouflaged. She wouldn't have noticed it if she hadn't just emerged from its depths.

They hiked along the wide field of ash, heading in the general direction of the mountains.

"Ummm...where exactly are we going?"

Jobee turned, as if to answer, but Cecil swooped in before he got the chance. "To the underground city of District 13."

"And where exactly is the entrance to this city?" Aliss questioned, exasperated.

As an answer, Cecil pointed to the mountains. How helpful.

So they walked under the unforgiving rays of the hot sun for the rest of the day. By its position, it was around six o'clock. Cecil hoped to reach the base of the mountain by nightfall, and take shelter there. Apparently, the ruins of District 13 weren't as welcome at night as they were in the daytime.

When the sun sunk into the horizon, however, they were still a good thirty minute walk from the base of the purple-tipped mountains. The sky became a deep black color almost instantly. Cool wind ran its fingers down Aliss's back. She shivered. A fierce growling sounded from the Justice Building area. Aliss made the mistake of turning around, meeting the glowing green eyes of a wild dog.

It charged immediately. Jobee nudged Aliss forward, signaling Cecil to follow. They ran, breathing in gusts of dust-infested air that burned their lungs with an acidic heat. An awful snarling started behind them, along with the sound of fabric tearing. Then a whine. More snarling. A scream...a whimper. Aliss bit her lip until she tasted blood, mentally refusing to turn around. She didn't want to see what was going on.

Cecil ducked behind a boulder, maybe a ten minute jog from the mountain. He looked at Aliss for a moment, then dug around in his pocket and handed her something smooth and cool before telling her to run and darting away. Aliss looked down.

He had handed her a knife.

Aliss had never wielded any sort of weapon before. She'd never needed to. The Capitol sheltered her from any means of harm, aside from her father and her occasional whippings from Thea. As a result, she'd grown up soft and defenseless. Just having this knife in her hand frightened her.

Then she heard Jobee cry out again.

What was she doing? Sitting behind a boulder while Jobee and Cecil fought a vicious dog, staring at this blade as if it would bite her? How pathetic. She should be fighting. But at the sharp whine from behind the boulder, she hesitated and decided to take a look at what was going on. Cecil was running toward her, Jobee hobbling behind. A dead mound of black fur lay behind them, but in the distance Aliss could see more wild dogs coming this way.

"I thought...I told you...to run!" Cecil gasped.

"I wasn't going to...leave you guys," Aliss breathed. The three of them sprinted toward the mountain, evading the wild dogs. Suddenly, Jobee collapsed, revealing three red gashes on his back, which was soaked in blood.

"Jobee!" Aliss called, wheeling around. Cecil tried to help him, but Jobee was just too big.

"Go!" he said as he draped Jobee's arm across his shoulder, struggling to support the unconscious man. Instead, Aliss grabbed Jobee's other arm, and together they managed to drag him towards the mountain. Aliss's knees wobbled. Between the dehydration, exhaustion, and Jobee's weight, she knew she wouldn't be conscious for much longer. She redoubled her efforts to haul Jobee to the mountain's base, which was only a couple feet away.

Cecil dropped Jobee when they got to the mountain. For one frightening moment, Aliss thought he had passed out too, but then she saw him digging around in the ash. Under the soot was neon orange netting that covered a small hole just bigger than Jobee. Cecil grabbed his knife and cut through it. Then he helped her get Jobee to the hole. Unfortunately for Jobee, he was so heavy that they accidentally dropped him into it, dragging both Cecil and Aliss down with him.

Aliss hit the stone floor, the air knocked out of her lungs. She struggled for breath, finally being rewarded after several terrifying seconds. She heard Cecil gasp beside her. She stood up...and fell again.

The next events were just images melting together to make one big story. Cecil shaking her shoulder. People coming from a tunnel. Jobee being carried off in a stretcher. Her own body being lifted, then laid down on rough canvas. Cool water down her throat, then it coming back out. Someone screaming. The sharp stench of blood mixed with vomit. A cool rag on her forehead. Unfamiliar voices asking her questions that she couldn't answer. A woman telling them to leave. A sharp pinch in her arm. And then nothingness.

* * *

When Aliss woke, she was still laying on rough canvas, still dressed in sooty clothes. She sat up on her elbows, fighting the wave of nausea that overtook her. Looking around, she saw that she was in a room made completely of black rock. Two single beds, one of which she was laying in, sat on separate ends of the room. Shelves had been carved between them and were occupied with little glass bottles, blades, arrows, trinkets, and other such paraphernalia. A long wooden table stood under the shelves, brandishing a tiny lantern that gave off a meager supply of yellow light.

"Hey."

Aliss squeaked and scrambled off the bed, landing on the black floor with a thud after nausea hit again. She pulled herself up using the wall, looking for the speaker. She finally noticed a figure on the opposite bed, sitting back on her hands and watching Aliss with a smirk. The speaker was female, early twenties maybe, with thick red curls that swirled to her shoulders. Her tall, willowy frame was adorned with camouflage pants, a black tank-top, and boots. Chuckling, the girl pushed herself off the bed and pulled on a camouflage jacket to match her pants. Saying nothing, she exited the room, not bothering to close the door behind her. Immediately, Aliss leaped over the bed grab a weapon.

"You're not going to need that. Well, not right now anyway," the girl said, walking back in. Only this time she had someone with her.

"Cecil!" Aliss exclaimed, for once glad her cynical companion was here.

"Wow," he said, his eyes taking her in. "You look like hell."

The red-headed girl rolled her eyes. "Well duh. You wouldn't exactly be Prince Charming if you were unconscious for 48 hours."

"I'm always charming."

"Where am I?" Aliss interjected.

"I thought we went through this," Cecil said. "We. Are. In. District 13."

"Can you be more specific?"

"You're in my room," the girl said. "Or our room, I guess. If you want to stay here. Which I would advise, because the only other two people who you can bunk with are Zoa, who has three boys, and Amie, who's sixty years old."

Aliss frowned. "Who are you, exactly?"

"The name's Arroe," she said. "Like bow and arrow, only it's spelled different."

"Aliss. Aliss—"

"Yeah, I know who you are. And my advice, make up a fake last name, okay? People here won't take well to anyone related to President Snow," Arroe said.

Aliss nodded, and turned to Cecil. "Is Jobee okay?"

"He lost a lot of blood and was really dehydrated, but after a couple days in recovery he'll be fine," Cecil said. "As for you, I'm sure you want to know what's going on, right?"

"That'd be nice."

"Here's what happened. You and Jobee both went to the infirmary after you fainted—"

"I didn't faint! I—"

"Do you want to know what happened?" Cecil asked, irritated. Aliss muttered under her breath, but nodded. "Well, okay then. Shut up and let me tell my story. Anyway, after you _fainted_, we took you and Jobee to the infirmary. The caretakers said that you would be fine, so we took you to Arroe's room and waited to see when you would wake up."

There was a pause. Then Aliss said, "That's it?"

"What were you expecting?"

"I don't know. Just not something so...anti-climatic."

Arroe snickered from her spot behind Cecil. "Do you want to know what's _going_ to happen?"

"Yeah, that'd be nice, too."

"Well," Arroe began. "We're going to go get you cleaned up, get you some clothes, and then give you a little tour of District 13."

Aliss brightened up considerably. "Really? That'd be great!"

"Trust me," Arroe said, laughing. "It's not as great as you're thinking."

The first stop they made was to what Arroe called the "shower room". It was a huge maze of stalls, each with a ridiculous amount of steam coming from them. There was a bit of a line—actually, there were two, one for the males and the other for females—but it wasn't too bad.

"There are some days when there are twenty people down here in line waiting to get a shower," Arroe said. "It's insane."

"Wow," was all Aliss said. She couldn't fathom waiting that long just to get clean. She had a pretty good feeling that she wasn't going to bathe every day.

Eventually, they got access to the steaming stalls. Aliss peeled her nightgown off her grey skin and threw it into the hall, where a lady was gathering the clothes for washing. It was so nice to get the ash off her body, though a puddle of black water pooled at her feet. She watched the streams of water flow down her stomach, leaving white trails behind them. Was she always so _pale_?

When she was certain that all the black dust had been washed off her body (along with several layers of skin) she stepped out of the shower and quickly grabbed a towel which was located right outside the dry area. Aliss soon realized that this was also the changing area, and that she had no clothes. A vivid blush rose to her cheeks. Arroe came to the rescue, her fingers dragging through her damp red curls.

"Here," she said, tossing Aliss a thin hospital gown. "I bet you can guess where our next stop is."

"Clothes?"

"Yup. You get to meet Cinna. You've heard of him, right?"

Aliss gasped. "Cinna? I really get to meet him?"

Arroe laughed. "You'd be surprised how many people ask that."

Aliss slipped on the hospital gown and let Arroe lead her down twisting tunnels. Most were just dark and narrow, with the occasional covered opening that signified a room's occupancy. Arroe also introduced her to people they saw along the way. Samuel, Baq, Alik, Lila, Maryse...there were so many names to keep up with, but Aliss was determined to do it.

Eventually, they reached an open cavern. It was lit with a warm, fiery glow. Several people sat down on the ground next to huge piles of clothes. Some were sewing things together, others were carrying clothes in baskets into a separate chamber. Aliss could make out the figures of people hanging up clothes in those chambers. And yet other people were washing clothes and hanging them on clotheslines that criss-crossed the ceiling of the cave. One person looked up from his work at their arrival and came to greet them. He was tall with curly brown hair. He had a black eye, a healing lip, a swollen cheek, and a prominent bruise on his forehead. Aliss wondered if vicious dogs had attacked him, too.

"Hello, Arroe. I see we have a newcomer," he said.

"Yeah, this is Aliss. Aliss meet Cinna, Director of Clothing for the Mockingjays," Arroe said. When Arroe said Aliss's name, Cinna's eyes flashed slightly, but he said nothing. Her stomach sank in disappointment. He knew who she really was.

"My title is misdirecting. I'm not nearly as important as it makes me sound," he said, rolling his eyes.

"I beg to differ. Would _you _want to see everybody here in the nude?" Arroe said, looking pointedly at Aliss.

She forced a laugh. "No, not really."

"Speaking of which," Cinna commented. "You look like you're in need of some clothes."

"Yeah."

"Well, follow me," he said, leading her into the separate chamber. Every inch of it was filled with some article of clothing. Shirts, skirts, pants, boots, even undergarments littered the room. On one side was a sign that said "Women," the other side read a sign that said "Men," and the middle had a sign that said "Children". Cinna led her to the women's side.

"I don't mean to be rude, but if you can't find anything that fits you over here, you're welcome to go to the children's side," he said. Aliss nodded, not offended in the least. With a small smile, Cinna left to talk to Arroe.

Looking down at her short hospital gown, Aliss decided to start with pants. She padded over to the women's side and began digging through layers and layers of pants, looking for the smallest pair. However, she soon realized that they weren't going to fit her. Even when she tied the waist with a length of neon yellow cord, they slipped off her hips. Besides that, they were several inches past her ankles. Frowning, Aliss walked over to the children's side.

Arroe joined her after a while. "Find anything?" she asked.

"No, not yet...is there anything else?" Aliss said, looking down at the pants she'd tried on. They were the biggest pair in the children's side, and they were several inches above her ankles. "If not, I guess I could wear these...they're not that bad, are they?"

Arroe shook her head. "Aliss, you can't wear those. They're skin tight. We don't have any more pants, but I'm pretty sure there are some skirts around here. We could find some shorts or something and they'll be fine, okay?"

Eventually they found something suitable. Aliss wore a light blue skirt that went just past her knees. It was a little big, so they still had to use the yellow cord, but it would suffice. They'd been lucky enough to find black and white striped tights to put under it. Picking out a shirt had been easy. There were all sorts of shirts in all sizes, even Aliss's impossible one. In the end, she chose a shirt that Cinna's team had made, rather than one that had been donated. After getting a pair of soft black boots, she was finally fully clothed.

As they were walking out of the giant closet, Arroe stopped her. "Hey, you might want to get a jacket while we're here. It can get pretty chilly."

Aliss chose a long black trench coat that hung just above her skirt.

"Now we can get on with the tour," Arroe said, waving good-bye to Cinna.

District 13 was a maze of dark tunnels. Most of them were hallways with rooms and nothing more. The first important room they encountered was the kitchen. It was huge, nearly the size of the kitchen at the Capitol. The walls were lined with shelves of ingredients and large wood burning stoves were scattered throughout the room. The room was a blizzard of activity as people boiled, glazed, baked, chopped, fried, stirred, crushed, and peeled various foods for various dishes. Arroe and Aliss didn't stay long, however, because Aliss almost knocked over a pot of boiling water in the chaos. The head chef, Grettah, rudely ordered them to leave.

The next room was a large, surprisingly open area, probably the size of a football field. It was equally grassy, with cracks in the ceiling that were patched with orange netting. All around the room people were practicing with some sort of weapon. Knives, swords, bows and arrows, guns, maces, spears; you name it, it was there and someone was wielding it. All the fighting was friendly though. Practice for the war.

On one side of the room was a window like one might find at a food stand at a carnival. A broad man with a beet red face and a bald head greeted Arroe at the counter.

"Can we go inside?" Arroe asked after introductions were made (the man's name was Bruce).

"Sure," Bruce said, waving them in. "Go right ahead."

Inside was filled with weapons from the ceiling to the floor. The corridor was so long that Aliss couldn't even see the end of it.

"These are all our weapons for footsoldiers," Arroe explained gravely.

"All these people are fighting?" Aliss questioned in amazement.

"More than this. Some people already have weapons."

"Wow."

The last room was the grandest of all. The Main Hall, Arroe called it, was twice as big as the fighting area. It was a large black dome with cracks in the ceiling, letting in rivers of sunlight. Winding along the walls were tunnels, which were layered on top of each other like a cake. The tunnels had openings like those you would find on the rail of a balcony, only these were natural, similar to the pillars in the caverns Aliss saw on her way to District 13. Straight through the middle of the the area was a creek, which entered from one wall and left right out the other. Along the banks was tall grass that people were harvesting. Aliss assumed it was some kind of grain. Almost every inch of black soil had some sort of plant, whether it was grass or a bush or even ivy. The biggest feature of the hall was the huge willow tree that grew from the entrance of the creek. Its branches gracefully dipped into the flowing waters. Children played in the little holes and waterfalls the roots created. It was a breathtaking sight.

"Hey, careful!" Arroe said, but it was already too late. Aliss had poked her head between two rails, even though they were on the fifth tunnel high. She felt someone grab the back of her shirt and pull her out.

It was Cecil, of course. "Arroe's right, you need to be more careful. You'd be surprised how many people fall through those bars."

Aliss nodded.

"Are you done with your tour?" he asked.

"Yes," Arroe said.

"No," Aliss said. They looked at each other in confusion.

"What more do you want to see? This is just about it," Arroe said.

"Is it still too _anti-climatic_?" Cecil said sarcastically.

Aliss glared at him. "No. But there is one more thing I want to see."

"What?"

"I want to see Jobee."

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter! It was one of my longer ones. Sorry it took so long to write. I shall continue with the story as quickly as possible.**

**-Smurf ^^**


	6. New Beginnings

CHAPTER SIX: New Beginnings

Cecil had been truthful about Jobee's injuries. The head nurse assured them that he would be fine in a few days, and that there was no need to worry. Aliss and Cecil stood beside his bed, staring at his sleeping face. His middle was bandaged up, and he was hooked to an IV, but other than that, he seemed perfectly fine.

"I'm sorry," the head nurse said. "I don't think I've seen you here before. What's your name?"

"Aliss."

"Hi," the head nurse said, giving Aliss a hand to shake. "Call me Mrs. Everdeen, if you'd like."

Aliss blinked. "Mrs. Everdeen? You're Katniss Everdeen's mother?"

"Yes, I am. And that is my other daughter, Prim," she said, pointing out a tiny blonde girl feeding something to an elderly man. Aliss took a closer look at Mrs. Everdeen's face. Though Aliss had never met Katniss face-to-face, she'd seen enough close ups on television to know what she looked like. Aliss strained to find some resemblance. The only thing she noted was that Katniss had her mother's forehead. She must take after her father.

With a thoughtful expression, Aliss turned back to Jobee.

* * *

After obtaining the information that Aliss didn't know how to fight, Arroe persistently insisted that she march down to the training area and learn how to use a weapon.

"You need to know how to protect yourself!" was her explanation. Aliss thought that she just wanted to amuse herself by watching her try to fight. Aliss would have refused, but Cecil agreed with Arroe, and argued with Aliss until she finally gave in.

So, on the second day of Aliss's conscious arrival to District 13, Arroe introduced Aliss to combat. First, they needed to find a weapon that Aliss could master. It was exceedingly obvious that she wouldn't be able to use a mace, spear, or sword very well. The thunderous sound of a gunshot made her flinch. They tried bows and arrows, but Aliss wasn't very good at that either.

"It'll take practice, of course," Arroe said as Aliss struggled putting the arrow in the notch. But her voice was uncertain. Bruce was strolling by when Aliss threw the equipment down in frustration and cursed.

"I'd never thought I'd hear words like those coming from a tiny body like that," he said. "What seems to be the problem?"

"We're having some trouble finding a suitable weapon for Aliss," Arroe explained. "The first thing that comes to mind with her body type is archery, but..."

"Why don't you try knife fighting?" Bruce suggested. "She's perfect for it. And you'd be the best teacher, Arroe. That's your job, isn't it?"

"Knife fighting...I don't know...isn't she kind of small for that?"

"I'm right here!"

"Sorry."

"Her size might be an advantage," Bruce interjected. "She could make quick jabs at her opponent's midsection and legs, then duck out of the way before they can retort."

Arroe shrugged. "It's worth a shot."

"You might want to work on archery still," Bruce added. "It's useful to be well-rounded."

With that, he walked away to help another young archer.

Arroe got practice blades from the stand. They weren't really blades at all, but bamboo-like sticks welded to wooden handles similar to knives. If you were "cut" by your opponent seven times, or if your opponent made a "kill cut," then you died and your opponent won that round. Arroe was, conveniently, the master of knife fighting. She was the teacher of beginners and she helped the average fighters improve. She was the best at what she did.

She showed Aliss some of the basics. Aliss didn't actually fight anyone since they had started so late in the day, but she practiced the poses and jabs and blocks until she was certain she knew them all well.

Aside from the training area, Aliss spent an equal amount of time in the clothing chambers with Cinna. Although he knew who she was, Cinna was kind and friendly to her. He was kind and friendly in general, as well as patient and calm. So unlike his cousin, Cecil.

Aliss didn't realize they were related until she saw them side by side. Cecil came to get her from the clothing chambers, and as they were talking, it hit her.

"Are you guys related?" she asked suddenly, random to the men but it was completely on the track of the conversation to her.

Cinna said, "We're cousins. I'm surprised you didn't notice before."

"Me, too."

Aliss didn't know why she thought it was such a big deal. So what? They were related. Who cares? Apparently not the cousins, because they just went back to their conversation.

Aliss thought that she liked being in the clothing chambers because of Cinna and because it was the closest she could get to any form of art. She still drew, but it was hard to get her hands on paper and when she did, it was scraps stained with black dust. Arroe had given her a unsharpened pencil, and with her knife Aliss had sharpened it. She kept it safe at all cost, knowing that it was the only pencil she would get for a very, very long time.

* * *

Jobee had to stay at the infirmary longer than intended. The wounds on his back were somehow infected, so Mrs. Everdeen kept him in a medical coma for most of the time. According to her, infections as severe as those could hurt very badly, especially if the wound broke.

Aliss visited Jobee every day. She felt a mixture of sadness, guilt, and even a little impatience. Sadness because Jobee was hurt, guilt because it was particularly her fault for turning around and alerting the wild dog, and impatience because she wanted to talk to her friend. She wanted to tell him about everything that was going on.

Cecil was there even more than Aliss. It seemed as if every time she walked in, Cecil was there, sitting by Jobee's bed. She spent a lot of time talking with him, about the Capitol, about her artwork, and about Evan.

One day, after she'd finished telling him about Evan's mind reading skills, he remarked, "I don't think he reads minds, Aliss."

"I think so."

"I don't," he said, quite amused.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing." Later, he asked, "Do you love him?"

Aliss blinked, but took the question seriously. There was no "just like" with Cecil; you either loved someone, or you did not. It was simple.

After a thoughtful moment, Aliss replied, "I love him."

"Ah. I see."

"But," she continued, "I'm not _in_ love with him. Does that make any sense?"

Cecil raised an eyebrow at her thoughtful expression, and suddenly broke into a sunny grin. "Yes, that makes sense," he said, snickering.

Aliss cocked her head at him, confused about why he was laughing. She suddenly realized that this was the first time she'd ever seen him smile. He'd smirked before, of course, for that was a very Cecil-ish thing to do, but he'd never actually_ smiled_. Not with real joy, or even amusement. It truly was the most beautiful smile she'd ever seen.

* * *

Aliss was slowly progressing with the knife training. She'd taken down her first opponent today, an eleven-year-old boy named Jak.

"Good," Arroe said.

"No. Not _good_. Pitiful."

"No, for someone who's only been training for a few weeks, you're doing extraordinary."

It was true; weeks had flown by. Her days were split between Arroe, Cinna, and Cecil. Jobee's wounds were healing, and, although he was out of his drug induced comatose, he was chained to the hospital bed for at least another three days. Only then would Mrs. Everdeen even consider letting him free. Jobee didn't complain, but Aliss and Cecil could tell he was getting very restless.

"Yeah, yeah. It still took me two weeks to take down someone four years younger than me," Aliss said, shooting an apologetic glance at Jak.

"He's been at it for a year now," Arroe insisted. "Trust me, you're doing great."

Aliss rolled her eyes. At least she had gotten better at knife fighting. Archery was still laborious and agitating to her, but Arroe said that she should spend at least thirty minutes a day working on it. Those thirty minutes were often spent cursing and spitting, but Aliss obliged to her friend's request.

Aliss found that she actually enjoyed knife fighting, once she got better. Three weeks later, she'd defeated a total of fifteen people out of the twenty-two she fought with since Jak. Even Cecil was impressed.

"I'd wish you'd known how to fight when we were attacked by wild dogs," he'd said. Aliss decided to take this as a compliment, and gave him a smile in return.

Jobee was finally walking around, though he needed to sit down more than was natural for a person. His wounds weren't infected anymore, and they were healing, but there was still the slightest chance that they could break again, so Mrs. Everdeen told him to be very careful.

Aliss quietly updated Cinna on Jobee's condition as they sewed clothes. She always felt the need to be quiet around him. His presence seemed to ward off calamity, create a peaceful and relaxing place. Aliss came there almost every day after her training with Arroe. It was strange that Cinna spent so much time with her, because of his age. While Arroe, Jobee, and Cecil were only around eighteen, Cinna was twenty-seven. He didn't seem to care.

"Well," he said. "I'm glad he's getting better. Jobee was never the type to lie around, though. I'm sure that as soon as Linda gives him the okay, he'll be running circles around everyone."

"Linda?"

"Mrs. Everdeen."

"Her first name is Linda?"

"Yes. Is that surprising?"

"No, I just...she never told me," Aliss finished lamely. There it was again; that feeling. The same feeling she got when she learned that Cinna and Cecil were cousins. It was as if she should already _know_ this, and absently wondered why no one had told her before. The answer was obvious, of course—it wasn't relevant. But still, having to learn this information bit by bit gave her a feeling of exclusion. It reminded her that she hadn't always belonged here. That she'd belonged somewhere else once.

"Oh, well...I'm sure she would have, if you'd asked," Cinna said, shrugging.

There was an awkward silence as they sewed clothes. After a while, Aliss started yawning and decided it was time to leave. As she said goodbye to Cinna, he suddenly exclaimed, "Oh, wait! Stay right here," before disappearing into his room, which was right outside the clothing chambers. When he came back, he had a bundle of cloth in his hands.

"Here," he said, handing it to Aliss. Cautiously, she undid the clothes wrapping, feeling something solid in it. It was a binder of sorts, made out of dark brown leather. It had a strap on the spine, like a purse. The outside had a zipper, which she unzipped, and inside were three metal rings holding a number of plastic paper holders. The first five had whole pieces of crisp white paper inserted inside them. Aliss's throat closed.

"Cinna...thank you," she whispered. He laughed.

"Don't thank me," he said. "I made it, but it wasn't my idea."

"Whose was it?"

"Cecil's."

Aliss smiled down at the binder. "Well, it was nice of you to make it for me. It must have taken a lot of time."

"No problem. Think of it as a welcome present," he said. Aliss hugged him, and went to hunt down Cecil.

She found him walking along the second story of the Main Hall tunnels. Aliss knew most of District 13 well, but it had still taken a while to find him. She marched up to him quietly, and he didn't notice her until she was almost right in front of him.

"Hi, Aliss," he said.

She stopped in front of him and stood on tiptoe to give him a peck on the cheek. He blushed crimson and jumped back with startled eyes. "What was that for?"

Aliss held up the binder to cover the pink color of her own cheeks. "This was very sweet. Thank you."

"Oh, well...Cinna made it."

"It's the thought that counts."

"Well, in that case...you're welcome."

They walked along the tunnel in silence for a moment. As they turned, Aliss asked, "Where are we going?"

"Hmmm?" Cecil said distractedly. "Oh, we're going to the training area. Arroe asked me to drop something off."

"Oh, okay."

They kept walking. When they got to the training area, Arroe was practicing with another knife fighter. Arroe was graceful in almost everything she did, but when she fought, it was like a dance. Her curls were tied up with twine, but several huge ringlets fell in her face anyway. She had a smile on her face, as if she actually enjoyed what she was doing, which, in retrospect, she probably did. It wasn't until after she defeated her opponent and help him up did she notice Cecil and Aliss. When Arroe fought, nothing could distract her.

"Hey, guys," she said.

"Hi."

"I got what you wanted me to drop off," Cecil said, smiling.

Arroe glanced at Aliss. "I can see that."

"What?" Aliss said, confused.

"She wanted me to drop _you_ off, stupid," Cecil said, nudging her. Aliss stuck her tongue out at him.

"But...you didn't come to get me_...I_ found _you_."

"I was looking for you when you found me. Ironic, isn't it?"

"But why?" Aliss asked turning to Arroe.

"Aliss," she began. "You've improved a lot in knife fighting. I think it's time you get some real weapons."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but there's one thing you have to do before," she said ominously.

"What?"

"You have to fight me."

* * *

Aliss stood about three yards away from Arroe. They were both holding practice blades. This would be Aliss's twenty-second battle; and she knew she would not win.

"Ready?"

Aliss nodded.

"Fight!"

They charged toward each other, their blades met with a wooden clank. Aliss parried Arroe's blow, and went to return it. Arroe blocked it and jabbed at Aliss's stomach. Aliss lurched back; Arroe knocked her down. Aliss shoved her off, and stood back up. Arroe hit her shoulder. She hit Arroe's thigh.

It went on like this for quite some time, longer than Aliss expected. She sustained only three "cuts" from Arroe, and, to her surprise, Arroe sustained five. Eventually, Arroe knocked her to the ground and poked Aliss in the heart with the tip of her practice blade.

"Dead," she proclaimed, smiling. She helped Aliss up.

"So, does this mean that I don't get my weapons?" the loser asked.

"Pssh, no. I knew I was going to win. I just wanted to make sure you could protect yourself from the average Peacekeeper," Arroe said.

"But I lost."

"But you were good enough to get weapons." With that said, Arroe headed toward the stand, where Bruce was waiting. Aliss fell back a step to talk to Cecil, who had watched the fight and held Aliss's binder for her.

"I don't get it," she said. "If she wanted to be sure I could protect myself against an average Peacekeeper, then why didn't she just fight like one and see if I won?"

"She's too proud," Cecil explained. "She's not going to give up her title to someone because she went easy on them. I have to say though, you did pretty well."

"Really?"

"If you didn't, Arroe wouldn't be giving you weapons right now."

By then they had gotten to the stand. "Okay, Bruce," Arroe was saying. "I need one belt, one ten-inch, two curves, three daggers, and one backup." She glanced at Aliss nervously. "On second thought, make it five daggers and two backups."

Bruce came back a minute later with a ridiculous amount of weaponry.

"Arroe," Aliss said. "I really don't need all this."

Her friend said nothing, but strapped the belt onto Aliss's waist and stuck a ten-inch blade that looked like an elongated dagger into her belt. Then she stuck two wickedly curved blades with serrated edges in her belt, along with two daggers. She stuck the other three daggers in Aliss's jacket and the two backups (the tiniest, sharpest knives Aliss had ever seen) into Aliss's boots.

"Be careful," Arroe told her grimly. "Those backups are dipped in poison, so don't poke yourself."

"Arroe," Aliss said again, looking at all her metal. "I _really_ don't need all this."

Arroe just looked at her with an expression of such despair that it made Aliss want to cry. "Just wear it, okay?" she pleaded. "Don't...just keep it with you."

She turned and walked away, hands clenched at her sides.

* * *

When Cecil was escorting her back to her rooms, she finally had the courage to ask him the question that had been bothering her all night.

"Cecil...why did Arroe act that way?"

He sighed. "She's worried about you."

"Me? Why?"

"Who do you think the President will look for if he attacks? Besides, you're so...tiny. And she loves you," he said.

Aliss hung her head. "But my father doesn't care about me. And I can fight." She couldn't say anything about the "she loves you" part. Aliss loved Arroe too, the way she would if Arroe was actually her sister. She worried about the war sometimes, but she had enough faith in Arroe to trust her not to be killed.

By this time they were at her door. Cecil turned to her. "Arroe's not the only one who's concerned for you. Cinna, Jobee, Mrs. Everdeen..." he didn't mention his name, but by the way he looked at her, she could tell he was mentally adding himself to that list. "Be careful. Arroe won't be the only one who'll be hurt if you are." He touched her face lightly, and was gone.

* * *

**You get an extra Aliss chapter! **

**Keep in mind that these are important highlights through _weeks_. I broke my pattern because, frankly, Evan's story is boring right now. But the next chapter will be Evan's, so if you like reading from his point of view, well...there you go. I have to say, I might be breaking the pattern more often from this point forward. But the only people I'm doing are Aliss and Evan, even though Cecil is obviously an important character too. If you DO want me to do a chapter on Cecil, just mention it in your reviews. If you don't, same thing. I'll see who wants what and get back to you with the answer later. **

**-Smurf ^^ **


	7. At Long Last

CHAPTER SEVEN: At Long Last

Everything went according to plan. Evan and Thistel snuck on a train, unrecognized. Evan was sent to a room in the back of the train, while Thistel went with the other Peacekeepers. They were supposedly on the road for three weeks, but to Evan it was an endless amount of time.

Their room was pitch black when he entered it. He could feel the warmth of a hundred bodies, hear the shuffle of fabric as they struggled with their bonds. The Peacekeeper led him down a seemingly endless aisle of miserable faces, until they found a spot where Evan could sit. He did, and the Peacekeeper handcuffed him to the seat. When he closed the door, the room was still.

Slowly, as the train departed, whispers started among the crowd. Mothers reassured their children; husbands coaxed their wives; siblings clung to each other helplessly.

They were given food once a day. It was a flavorless morsel, some kind of bland oatmeal. The fugitives of District 11 ate it up, though, as a Capitol citizen might gobble a holiday feast. Evan was always hungry, but he was certain that this was more food than the rebels had seen in a long time. It was a sad thought, because this was barely a meal for him.

There were times when Evan was dead to the world, and times when he was wide awake. He never seemed to just sleep like normal. He had three neighbors—a ten-year-old girl named Myca, her mother, who was named Marisol, and an elderly man by the name of Hamelton. He talked to Marisol occasionally, but Myca was mute. Hamelton seemed to have gone mad a long time ago. He chattered on about farming. That's all he talked about, farming. Fertilizers, plants, soil, tools; he knew everything there was to know about it. At that moment, his topic seemed to be about oxen.

"A weak ox will never do," he said, solemnly. "Unless, of course, unless it's but a calf. That's the exception! Right there! A calf can get a pretty hefty sum in the market, 'specially the males. They're said to live longer, you know. Don't give birth, that's why. Live longer, get more work done. Simple concept."

Evan nodded absently. "Work done. Right."

"Yup, right there's a listener. Good listeners always make good farm hands. Say, you want to come work with me when we get back home, boy?"

Evan froze. He looked at Marisol. She was asleep, but Myca was looking at Hamelton with sad eyes._ He doesn't know_, they seemed to say. _He doesn't know that he'll never see his land again. _

Evan lowered his eyes. He would let Hamelton think that. He would let him think that until the day he walked up to the firing squad.

* * *

Thistel and three other Peacekeepers came into the room to give them their meal. As they passed out the oatmeal, they were whispering things to the captives. Finally, Marisol whispered to Evan, "They're going to break us out of here. When we get off the train, wait for the signal and start screaming. They'll cut us loose, and then just follow the crowd or a rebel Peacekeeper as quick as you can."

Excitement was buzzing around the fugitives by the time the Peacekeepers entered their chamber.

"Alright," said the Head Peacekeeper on the train. "Here's what's going to happen. We are going to chain you up, you are going to follow us to the courthouse, and there you will wait until we can get the execution squad together. Is that clear? I don't want any funny business. Anyone who looks, sounds, or so much as _smells_ suspicious will be shot immediately."

The Peacekeepers chained everyone together in rows with ropes. Evan was between Marisol and Hamelton. Myca was in front of Marisol. He was determined to get these three to safety. They were good people. They didn't deserve this.

They walked for a long time. Finally, when there were on the ledge of the lake, five of the Peacekeepers, including Thistel, began to scream. The captives followed their example, and soon everything was a confusing whirl of sound. With a _snick,_ the ropes slackened and everyone ran off into different directions. There were more _snicks_, and the group began to separate. Then there was gunfire. Thistel was suddenly there in front of Evan, yelling, "Come on!"

"Myca! Marisol! Hamelton!" Evan screamed they were then running beside him. Myca stumbled, and Evan took her in his arms. There was a gunshot close by, and Hamelton dropped to the ground. Evan looked back, meeting Hamelton's reeling eyes.

"Go," he mouthed. Then he was still.

Evan did go. He ran with all his might, now twice as determined to get this girl and her mother to the safety of District 13.

Thistel led them to a sullen little hut at the edge of the water. She waved everyone in and shut the driftwood door. There were six of them now. Thistel, Evan, Myca, Marisol, and two sisters who seemed to be identical twins. They couldn't have been more than fourteen.

Thistel wasted no time. She quickly walked over to the edge of the hut, which was made of grass, and pushed part of the grass wall aside. There was a twig. She pulled the twig, and a trap door came up from the ground, spilling sand. "Everyone in," she said. The group did as they were told. Thistel climbed in and shut the trap door behind her, swathing them in complete darkness. Seconds later, a beam of a flashlight came from her direction.

"Come on," she said, and began to walk forward. They followed.

The group did not talk until Thistel said it was time to rest. They gathered around the flashlight, bathing themselves in its glow. Evan wished they could start a fire. It was really cold. They must have been under the lake. Thistel took food out of her bag. There was one apple, four rolls, dried beef, some tea leaves, peppermint leaves, and the mockingjay cracker. Thistel sliced the apple into sixes and gave everyone a slice. She passed out the dried beef, the peppermint leaves, and gave the four rolls to the twins and Myca. She offered Marisol one, but she refused. Evan ended up getting it.

"So what are your names?" Evan asked the twins, when they were all done and chewing on the peppermint leaves.

"Lyra."

"Siobhan."

"I'm Evan," he said. "And this is Marisol, Myca, and Thistel."

They exchanged greetings. Evan turned to Thistel. "How long will we be traveling down here?" he asked, eyeing her empty food bag.

"Only one more day."

"That's good, I guess," Lyra said shyly.

Thistel's walkie-talkie crackled. A voice came through the speakers. "Thistel? Can you hear me?"

"I'm here, Twill."

"Oh, thank God. Are you okay?"

"Fine. You?"

"I'm fine. Have you heard anything from the others?"

"No."

There was silence on the other end. Then, Twill said, "How many do you have with you?"

"Five."

"I have two."

Thistel paused. "How many fugitives were there?"

"Thirty." Twill's voice cracked.

Thistel gazed at the walkie-talkie solemnly. "Keep in touch, Twill."

"Okay. I'll ring in the morning." There was nothing but silence on the other end, to match the heavy silence in the group.

"How many rebel Peacekeepers were there?" Evan finally asked.

"Three others. Sonny, Jackal, and Bonnie," Thistel said. "I think we'd better go to sleep. I'll keep first watch."

The five fugitives laid down, looking carefully at their leader. All during the night, they listened hard for the walkie-talkie's blips and bleeps, hoping that someone else might call and say there were okay.

No one else did.

* * *

They traveled all the next day, with heavy hearts. No one even attempted conversation. Only seven of the thirty District 11 rebels had survived. Not to mention the other three turncoat Peacekeepers. That was twenty-six people dead._ This goes beyond murder_, Evan thought. _This is slaughter_.

Myca stumbled on a ledge. Evan offered to carry her. She shook her head. Marisol was humming what she said was a song of mourning. The twins were clutching each other as they walked. Thistel marched straight ahead, never looking back.

Evan was dead on his feet when he heard the sound. It was a wonderful sound, the deep rumble of voices and footsteps and laughter. It was the sound of humans.

* * *

District 13 was amazing. Everything was so full of hope, so alive. The tunnels were a maze of black rock. Their tunnel entered into a huge room. It was green and lush, with a creek running through the middle and layers and layers of balcony-like tunnels lining the walls. A huge willow tree stood proud and tall at the entrance of the creek.

When Thistel walked into the room, few people noticed her. But then, the crowd roared her name, people came from all different directions to hug her and her group of fugitives. She nodded and hugged back, but she seemed determined to cut through the room quickly. Eventually they slipped into a tunnel that wasn't much bigger than a hallway. She sighed.

"Okay, I'm going to take you guys to the infirmary now," she said. No one answered. They were still in awe. They didn't walk for long before they entered another large room lined with beds and equipment. A lady came over to them, hand clasped over her mouth.

"Oh, Thistel," she said, hugging said person. "You made it back."

"Hello, Linda," Thistel said, hugging the lady. "I know."

Linda checked to make sure none of them were hurt. When Linda was looking at Myca, three people stepped in. One was tall and important looking. The other Evan would have recognized anywhere. Haymitch, winner of the 50th Hunger Games. And the last person was Katniss Everdeen, who Evan also would have recognized anywhere. The trio marched straight up to Linda.

"Hello," the important man said. Not to Linda though—to the group. "I am Plutarch Heavensbee. Thistel, it is so nice to see you back," he said, hugging her. He turned to the rest of them. "I hope you make yourselves comfortable. Thistel will explain how everything here works. All I need are your names."

They told Plutarch Heavensbee their names. He left, along with Haymitch. Katniss stayed. "Mother, I need to speak with Thistel," she said to Linda. Evan did a double take._ Linda _was Katniss Everdeen's_ mother_? They looked absolutely nothing alike. Katniss dragged Thistel to the other end of the room and spoke with her. Evan watched Thistle's expression. Shock, anger, fear. Her face was pale under her copper skin. When she came back, it still was, but she was composed. Linda looked stiff, as if she knew what her daughter had told Thistel and didn't agree.

"Thistel," she said. "Jobee is around her somewhere if you want to talk to him."

"Of course I do!" Thistel said, her face brightening. "Where is—"

"THISTEL?" A hulking man with dark skin and dread locks ran to Thistel and caught her in a bear hug. Thistel hugged him back, laughing.

"Who's Jobee?" Evan asked Linda.

"Thistel's brother."

Even now, Thistel was still laughing. Evan could see how they were related. Same hair, same features. Thistel's skin was lighter though, and her features were often cold and closed. As she was laughing, however, they opened up like sunshine.

Jobee walked over to Linda and the group. "And who are you?" he said to Myca kindly.

"This is my daughter, Myca," Marisol said. "I'm Marisol."

"I'm Lyra and—"

"And I'm Siobhan."

"I'm Evan."

Jobee blanched. "Wait. Did you say _Evan_? Evan Summers?"

Evan cautiously nodded. "Yes...that's me. Why?"

A wide grin slowly crossed Jobee's face. "Do I have a surprise for you."

* * *

**Another chapter done! I bet you can guess what the surprise is, huh? :) This chapter is kinda boring, but the next chapter will make up for its boringness. I've only got one request for a Cecil chapter, so if you want me to do a chapter in Cecil's point of view, or if you don't want one, then PLEASE put it in your reviews. I know I said I was only going to do Evan and Aliss chapters, but I decided to make Cecil a big character AFTER I started the story, and I think he deserves his own chapters. BUT I WANT MY READERS' OPINIONS. So please, put your opinions in your reviews. **

**-Smurf ^^**


	8. Awkward Arrivals

CHAPTER EIGHT: Awkward Arrivals

When Aliss woke up the next morning, she almost groaned. Her muscles were sore from all the training yesterday, plus the fight with Arroe. She looked at her companion curiously. Arroe was splayed across the bed, tangle of red curls hiding her face. She wasn't getting up any time soon.

Aliss got out of bed. She went over to the little cracked mirror and looked at herself. Her hair was grey with dust and she had black smudges of soot on her face._ I think I'll take a shower today_, she thought. She left Arroe a note and went to the shower room.

It felt so good to be clean. She hadn't washed in a couple days, so she needed a shower. She got dressed, and went back to the room.

Arroe was up and making her bed. "Get your weapons. We're practicing knife throwing today."

Aliss nodded and went to her side of the room to get her belt.

"Oh, and you'll need this," Arroe said, holding up a piece of twine. "We don't want you to get a haircut." She attempted to throw the piece of twine. It gently floated to the floor between the beds. Arroe stared at it with a glazed look in her eye.

Aliss giggled and went to pick it up. "Arroe, what's wrong?"

She sighed. "Nothing. Get your hair up and meet me outside."

Arroe slowly returned to normal as she taught Aliss how to throw a knife correctly. They started with practice blades mainly so Aliss wouldn't chop her head off, but soon transitioned to regular daggers. When Arroe thought that she got the basics, she left Aliss to practice it. Cecil was there too. He was supposed to be waiting for Jobee, but he watched Aliss throw, occasionally giving her tips instead.

She threw it, but it sailed over the head of the dummy.

"No," he said, getting up off the ground. He came up behind her and gently grabbed her hand with the knife, readjusting it. His other hand rested on her shoulder. She tensed, feeling her face heat up. "There," he said, releasing her. "That should be good. Now throw it."

She did. It didn't hit the dummy square in the forehead, but it still made its mark. "Yeah!" Aliss said, smiling.

"Hey, Aliss!" Jobee said, running into the training area. Aliss smiled and waved. Cecil glared.

"There you are! I—"

"Not now!" Jobee gasped, intercepting Cecil. "I've got news!"

"What?"

"Thistel's home!"

Cecil froze. "What? Really? Well, where is she?"

"Out in the hallway. She got caught in a conversation with Lila. She'll be here in a minute. Aliss, I got a surprise for you too," Jobee said.

"Hmm?" Aliss said distractedly, looking up from her knife. "A surprise? What is it?"

"ALISS?"

It took her a moment to recognize the man with the reddish hair who was running toward her. "…Evan? Evan!" she cried, embracing him. "What are you doing here? And what did you do to your hair?"

"Let's just say that I'm not on the best terms with the Capitol right now..." he said. "What's going on? How are you? How did you get here? What is this?"

Aliss laughed. "How about this? I'll tell you my story and you can tell me yours."

"Deal. We'll do that later." He put his hands on her shoulders. "I'm just so happy to see you."

Aliss smiled. "You too."

Jobee strolled up to them then, introducing Aliss to his sister, Thistel. She was a cold, severe looking woman with sleek black hair and copper skin. She didn't greet Aliss back when she said hello. Jobee gave her a look of heavy disapproval, but said nothing. Aliss hung her head. _Does everyone know I'm the President's daughter? _she thought. Arroe and Thistel seemed to be very close. Arroe ran up and tackled Thistel before she noticed anything was wrong.

"YOU'RE BACK!" she squealed. Thistel laughed, and looked startlingly like her brother.

Cecil gave her a hug too. "Happy homecoming," he said. He noticed Aliss. "Have you met—?"

"Yes. We've met," Thistel said cooly. There was an awkward silence.

"Oh..." Arroe said finally. "Um, Aliss, who's your friend?"

"Oh! This is Evan," she said, a little proudly. He was greeted warmly. By the end of the day, Evan had taken to everyone, except maybe Cecil, who he didn't really seem to like much.

Later, Evan came to Aliss's room and they shared their stories. Aliss was horrified to hear that Rosemary and twenty-six District 11 fugitives had died. No, that they had been _murdered_.

Evan didn't want to seem to leave. Finally, when it came time that he had no choice, Arroe asked him, "Where are you bunking?"

"With Cecil," he said flatly.

Arroe laughed. "Goood luuuuck!" she called after he had left.

Aliss sighed, and got ready for bed. "Arroe," she asked, "why doesn't Evan like Cecil? I mean, Cecil was nice and everything...or at least I thought so."

Arroe stopped, disbelief crossing her face. "You really don't know, do you?"

"Know what?"

But Arroe was laughing too hard to answer any more questions. She managed to get one word out of her mouth before loud guffaws overtook her again.

"N-nothing...pfffthahaha!"

Aliss looked at her strangely and shook her head. She was convinced that Arroe had gone just a little bit crazy.

* * *

Luckily, in the morning, Arroe was back to normal. Aliss didn't see her much though, since she always seemed to be with Thistel, and Thistel seemed to hate Aliss. The latter was determined not to be discouraged by this hatred, however. _She'll warm up to me eventually, right? I mean, Cecil and Cinna and Arroe did and they know who I really am. She'll warm up to me. Right? _Aliss thought frantically. _Unless...unless she blames me for Rosemary's death! Oh my goodness, she _blames_ me! What am I going to do? She'll never forgive me for that! I wouldn't even forgive me for that! Maybe it was my fault, too. _

These thoughts ran circles in Aliss's head until she was absolutely miserable. Everyone asked her what was wrong, which only made her depression worse._By_the time she saw Cecil later that day, she was so sad that her despair had shifted to anger.

"What's wrong?" Cecil asked.

"What's wrong? What's _wrong_? Why does everyone keep _asking_ me that? Nothing's _wrong_! Everything is just _peachy_." Cecil looked mildly shocked but was biting his lip trying not to laugh. This only made Aliss angrier. Scowling, she wheeled around and stalked off.

"Aliss! Oh, come on Aliss, wait!" he yelled, catching her arm. He turned her around and she had a bittersweet satisfaction to see that the humor was gone from his face. "Look, we won't talk about it if you don't want to, okay?"

"Okay."

"So, where's your friend? Ahhh...Ethan?" Cecil said.

Aliss gave him a look. "It's Evan. And I don't know, he told me he was getting his 'affairs' sorted out with Plutarch Heavensbee. Whatever that means."

"Is _that _why you're mad?"

"I thought we weren't going to talk about it! And no, that's not what's making me mad."

"Okay, we're still not talking about what's making you mad, but does it have something to do with Katniss?"

Aliss glanced at him. "No...why would it have something to do with Katniss?"

"Oh, no reason," Cecil said hastily. "Does it have something to do with...Thistel?"

"No."

"There! It does have something to do with Thistel!"

"But I said it doesn't!" Aliss exclaimed, baffled.

"It's not what you said, but the way you said it."

"That makes absolutely no sense."

"It does, and you know it."

"No, it doesn't."

"Yes, it does."

Aliss glared at him. "I'm not having this childish argument."

"You're only saying that because you know I'm right," Cecil countered.

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am."

"You're not!"

"I am!"

"Not! Ha, I win!" Aliss said.

"What? How do you win?"

"You said, 'I am' and I added, 'not', which, put together is, 'I am not.' "

"What happened to: 'I'm not having this childish argument.' "

"Shut up."

Cecil laughed. "Look, if you're jealous of Thistel and Arroe—"

"I'm not jealous of Thistel and Arroe."

"Thistel and Jobee?"

"No."

"Thistel and Ian?"

"No, and it's Evan."

"I'm pretty sure it's Thistel."

"Cecil!"

"Thistel and me?"

"_Cecil!_" Aliss said, exasperated. "I'm not jealous of Thistel! I just want to know why she hates me so much!"

Cecil stopped in the middle of the tunnel. "Aliss, she doesn't hate you."

"She does, and I just want to know why! That's it!" Aliss said.

"Even if she did hate you, you'd know why," Cecil said quietly.

"Just because I'm—" Aliss started. She rephrased her words as Mila walked by, waving to them. "She shouldn't hate me because of my parentage. It's not right!"

"Aliss, why do you think that we haven't told everyone about your parentage? Do you really think they'd be okay with it?"

He let this sink in. And it did, slowly. "You mean...everyone...they would hate me, too?"

"I can't speak for everyone, but those who don't know you well…yeah, they would. They would _hurt you_," Cecil said.

"That's not fair," Aliss said, knowing it was cliché. Of course it wasn't fair. Life wasn't fair.

She half expected Cecil to tell her that, but all he said was, "I know."

She looked up and nearly jumped back in surprise. Cecil's face was closer than she thought it was. And still he leaned closer, until their faces were just inches apart. She closed her eyes and—

"Hey!"

Cecil and Aliss snapped apart, nearly colliding with the wall in the process. Evan came jogging down the hallway, face flushed and hair sweaty. "Hey, Aliss!" he said. "I've looked everywhere for you. Arroe wants to know if you want to show me how to use a bow and arrow."

Cecil tipped back his head and laughed. Aliss stared at the ceiling, willing herself not to laugh too. "Well, let's just go and talk to Arroe, shall we?" She grabbed his arm and dragged him to the training area.

"I'll see you later!" Cecil called.

"Okay!" Aliss said over her shoulder.

* * *

Arroe laughed at Aliss's expression when she walked in the training area. "I'm sorry!" she said before Aliss was close enough to hit her. "It was just too good to resist! And you _know_ it was funny."

Aliss stopped and let go of Evan's sleeve. "Yeah...I guess it was pretty funny."

"What? I don't get it," Evan said ignorantly.

"I hate archery," Aliss explained.

"What? But why?"

"Because I'm no good at it."

Evan snickered. "Sorry. I didn't know; I was being _used_."

Aliss waved his excuse away. "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"But seriously, Evan, why don't you go try some archery? We already know you're good with a gun, but you want to be well-rounded," Arroe quoted. Evan nodded and walked away.

"Have you practiced your archery today?" she asked Aliss.

"Noooo..."

"You might want to do that."

"Okay…"

"Aliss, what's—"

"I swear, if you ask me what's wrong I will slap you," she threatened.

"Okay, jeez."

Aliss picked up a bow and arrow from the stand and went to the archery range next to Evan, who was getting instructions from Alik.

"Hey, Aliss," Alik said. Evan shot the arrow. It hit the edge of the target and fell off. "I'll let you take it from here."

"Thaaanks," Aliss said sarcastically. Alik left, chuckling. "Okay, Evan, you have to pull back more on your string to make it go farther." She demonstrated.

"Okay..." Evan shot it. It sailed past the bulls-eye, but it was a more powerful shot. He sighed. "Wow, I suck."

Aliss pulled back and shot. The arrow missed. "I'm not much better."

"Maybe we can get Katniss to help us," Evan said.

Aliss wheeled around. "What?"

There she was, Katniss Everdeen. She walked among the lines of archers, occasionally giving a tip or readjusting an arrow. As she passed, Evan waved. Katniss did not wave back. She did not smile, she did not say hello. She passed them with an aura of cold, her grey eyes like ice. She focused those chilly eyes on Aliss, glaring at her venomously. Katniss uttered not one word, but her eyes said it all.

_I hate you._

* * *

**Yet another chapter done. And yes, Katniss does know who Aliss is, she doesn't just hate her for no reason. I felt the need to point this out, just in case someone didn't get it and thought that Katniss hated Aliss for no apparent reason. **

**-Smurf ^^ **


	9. The Spies

CHAPTER NINE: The Spies

Aliss was so different. In fact, she was just as foreign as the clone that President Snow had created. Evan's gentle, soft-spoken, breezy Aliss was gone. In her place was this new, hard, determined creature that he didn't know what to make of. She was just so much more..._alive_. Her watercolor blue eyes danced with a fighting fire, a fire of raw determination. It was like a core of hot iron burned inside her. And she knew how to fight with knives! _Knives_! Aliss, who never once in her life had anything to do with violence, brandishing a blade! And besides that, she was _good _at it. Like she had been born to do it. The only person she hadn't defeated in battle was Arroe, with whom she fought every day, only to be beaten again. But then that alien determination shone through again, and she made promises for combat tomorrow.

At least a few things hadn't changed. Aliss was as artistic as ever, constantly working with Cinna and drawing in that little binder of hers. She smelled of lavender still. But these things from her past life didn't matter anymore. And it certainly didn't matter what he thought of her either. She had new friends now.

Evan didn't mind the eccentric Arroe or the wise Cinna, and he actually liked the kindhearted Jobee quite a bit. But _Cecil_...he hated Cecil. Cecil drooled over Aliss every chance he got, following her like a dog. Not to mention the fact that he was a total smart ass. Aliss shouldn't have to put up with it. And the way he _stared_ at her...it was creepy. When Evan pointed this out to her, she went on the defensive.

"Cecil does not _stare_ at me. And may I remind you that you stare at people? So don't be hypocritical."

"Okay, but when I stare it's because I know it gets on peoples' nerves—"

"Hey!"

"Hang on a minute," Evan said. "Let me talk. When I stare it's because it gets on peoples nerves and I think it's funny. I do it to everybody. He only stares at _you_. And may I add that he's like, five years older than you? It's creepy."

"Okay, first of all, five years is not that much of an age difference. I've met people who are twenty years apart and married. Second of all, Cecil is only three years older than me. And third of all, he doesn't stare at me!" Aliss said, counting on her tiny fingers.

"Whatever. I still think he's a creep," Evan said crossly.

"Well, you can keep your opinions to yourself," Aliss said, just as agitated. "He's been nothing but nice to you, and you should follow his example."

"Nice? Is that what you call it? I call it being a sarcastic ass," Evan fumed.

"Cecil can be...cynical at times, but everyone is sometimes, right?"

"Aliss, he's not cynical sometimes. He's an ass all the time. There's a difference."

"He is not! You just have to—"

"Let me guess. 'You just have to get to know him, and then he's a really great guy!' " Evan mocked in a high, girlish voice.

"Well...yeah. Everyone's kind of awkward when they meet new people. Cecil just happens to be sarcastic instead," Aliss explained.

"Whatever. All I know is that I don't really want to get to know him better. In fact, I would rather stay as far away from him as possible," Evan said.

"No one said you had to get to know him better. But just because you don't like him doesn't mean I can't. Besides, he probably feels the same way about you," Aliss said bitterly, taking a sharp turn down a random tunnel and storming away in the opposite direction.

Evan was completely baffled. _What just happened?_ he thought, wandering down the hallway-like tunnel._ Everything is just changing so quickly... _

Evan, absent-minded, ran into Thistel. He'd been a bit cross with his harsh companion after she wouldn't speak to Aliss because of her parentage. As time progressed, however, they seemed to be getting along better. This was mainly due to Arroe, who badly wanted her two best friends to at least tolerate each other. Katniss had yet to quit her glacial scowls and bitter silence, and Evan knew it killed Aliss inside. Her idol wouldn't even glance her way without glaring.

"Evan, there's a conference in the Main Hall. Heavensbee said to be there at once," Thistel said hurriedly, before speeding away to alert another person. Surprised, Evan redirected his course to the Main Hall, which wasn't very hard considering that nearly every tunnel led to it one way or another. _A conference_, he thought. _I wonder if this is a regular thing_...

Looking at the worried faces around him, he decided that it wasn't.

When he arrived, the Main Hall was filled with people. There were people on the banks of the creek, people sitting on the roots of the willow tree, people crowding around the barriers of the layered tunnels circling the walls of the Main Hall. There were even a couple of people who had climbed the thin branches of the willow. Evan hadn't realized how many Mockingjays there actually were—a lot more than he expected, that's for sure.

On the small platform in the front of the Hall along the one wall that had no tunnels, were Plutarch Heavensbee, Haymitch Abernathy, Katniss Everdeen, and Finnick Odair. Heavensbee had what looked like some sort of microphone. After everyone had filed in, he spoke.

"ATTENTION! MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE!" he cried. His voice carried far and echoed off the walls of the Main Hall, silencing everyone. "THANK YOU. NOW, I DON'T CALL CONFERENCES OFTEN, SO I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT THIS IS AN EMERGENCY. WE HAVE BEEN INFORMED OF A SECURITY BREECH OUTSIDE THE MOUNTAIN AREA. THERE IS NO CAUSE FOR PANIC, AS OUR TECH DEPARTMENT INFORMS US THAT THERE ONLY SEEMS TO BE TEN PEACEKEEPERS SCOUTING THE BORDERS. THERE IS NO OTHER LARGE MASS OF PEOPLE OR WEAPONRY, SO IT IS INFERED THAT THESE PEACEKEEPERS ARE JUST SCOUTS. I NEED EVERYONE WHO CAN FIGHT TO GATHER INTO ORGANIZED GROUPS OF TEN AND INVESTIGATE. BRING BACK ANY PEACEKEEPERS YOU CAN—ALIVE—AND _PLEASE_, BE CAREFUL."

Suddenly Evan was being pushed and pulled and shoved all at once. A confusion of people called for their friends and family. Distantly he heard someone calling his name. He looked for the source, but was carried away by the wave of people. Finally, someone caught his arm and pulled him into a relatively empty tunnel. Inside was Jobee, who had rescued him, Thistel, Arroe, Cecil, Aliss, Lila, Alik, Kye, Sibil, and now him. Ten people.

"Here," Cecil said, handing him a gun. It was similar to his old Peacekeeper gun. Evan took it without grace. They pressed forward into the tunnel while Arroe gave off directions.

"Okay, so Heavensbee told us investigate the northwest section of the valley between Mount Sycamore and Mount Una-Saulo," she was saying. "So to cover ground more efficiently we'll split up into groups of two. Just partner up with the person behind you and vise versa."

They filed out of the trap door, meeting a wave of hot, ashy air.

* * *

Behind the glaring rays of the sun, the ruins of District 13 were just as Aliss remembered them. In the little valley were jagged boulders and steep inclines, all covered with soot. At the very bottom was a large lump of charred straw and wood. Huts. As she gaped, Jobee and Thistel went in one direction, Arroe and Cecil in another, Alik and Kye began scaling the mountain, and Sibil and Evan began climbing down a steep hill, leaving Aliss and Lila alone.

"Sooo..." Lila began. She was none too bright, but a fair enough fighter. "What now?"

"We look for Peacekeepers I guess," Aliss suggested. Without another word they began to slide down the ashy mountain on the heels of their feet and the backs of their hands, flakes of ash propelling them further. Without warning, a chunk of rock cracked from beneath Lila's hand. It unleashed a cloud of rock and ash, tumbling over itself and Lila. Aliss watched in sheer horror as her companion toppled down the mountain, screaming. The cloud covered most of her body, but amidst the thin outer layer her flailing limbs were vaguely visible.

"Lila!" During all this Aliss could do nothing but grasp the crumbling soot, her own body sliding down the mountain much too quickly to be safe. Dust burned her vision away and the shuffle of ash blocked her hearing. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Aliss slid to a stop. For one second she lay still and trembling in her little nest of debris, but then she got to her knees, watching the river of sediment drip from her back and shoulders. She coughed it from her throat and rubbed it from her eyes.

She listened hard for any sound. There's no telling what kind of attention a landslide like that might attract. She was just hoping that an a Mockingjay got to her before a Peacekeeper. She was also listening for Lila, desperately hoping for a something that said she was okay. Or at least not dead.

But she heard nothing of Lila. Not even a moan. What she did hear was the whisper of feet sinking into the ash on the ground. Footsteps. Fear and adrenaline shot through her as she realized it was only one pair. Peacekeeper.

She stood and whipped the two curled blades from her belt. The Peacekeeper stood, not even three yards away with a blade of his own. It was a long, sharp machete. _He must have lost his gun_, Aliss thought.

"What do we have here?" the Peacekeeper said in a raspy voice. "Not a Peacekeeper, that's for sure. You must be a rebel."

"And if I am?"

The Peacekeeper laughed. "That's too bad. You sure are cute."

"Trust me, I'm not as cute as I look," Aliss said, trying to keep the chill that ran down her spine out of her voice.

"Well, I'll be the judge of that." As they talked the Peacekeeper had been pressing forward slowly, so now he was only five feet away. Suddenly, he charged.

The first blow nearly knocked the blades out of her hands. Sensing his advantage, the Peacekeeper smirked and pressed harder on the suspended blades. Aliss removed hers and ducked before his machete could reach her face. She made a quick jab at his arm and slipped behind him. His machete followed her as the Peacekeeper wheeled around, swinging it like a baseball bat. She straightened when he was facing her again, forearm welling with blood under the grey surface off his uniform. He bared his teeth and charged again.

Aliss deflected his blows carefully. He ran at her like a bull, indicating that he wasn't clever. But he had a huge advantage with that brute strength. Every blow made her arms feel like noodles.

The Peacekeeper's machete made contact suddenly. It sliced at her hip, cutting deep into the skin. Aliss bit her lip, refusing to cry out. He hit her again, this time the butt of his blade made contact with her hand, and it automatically dropped its load. She ducked again as the machete swung over her head, and pulled out the ten-inch. She made a jab, and hit his thigh. He sliced her other arm, and the last curved blade fell. She grabbed a dagger and threw it, nicking him in the shoulder. He charged once more.

She groped for a dagger, but her hand was slick with blood and sweat, and she couldn't get it in time.

The Peacekeeper struck her across her face with his machete. She jumped back before it could decapitate her, but the edge still slit her cheek with a force equal to a punch. Aliss's head snapped to the side and she fell to the ground, gasping in shock and pain. Hot blood ran down her face and a terrifying sting pulsed throughout her skull, dancing at the direct wound.

A boot made contact with her abdomen repeatedly. The crack of splintered bone echoed in her ears. By this time she should have screamed, but her bleeding lip was securely locked between her teeth, so any sound she made was muffled. And she was glad. This monster didn't deserve any satisfaction at her death.

He kicked her until she was on her back. He laughed, pointing the machete at her heart. "You know, you did this to yourself. All you stupid people had to do was appreciate what the President gave you instead of asking for more. And now you're going to pay for it. He says that after this rebellion is over, twice as many tributes are going to be entered in the Hunger Games. And instead of starting at thirteen, he's lowering the age to ten. I almost feel sorry for you. That's why I'm going to kill you, right now. Any last words, Mockingjay?"

Aliss gathered all the saliva and blood and bile that her mouth could carry and spit on his shoes, since his face was too high to reach. With a growl, he lifted the machete in preparation to sink it into her heart.

A noise like thunder sounded. Two more like it. The Peacekeepers chest blossomed with red petals of blood. His snarling face became blank and the anger in his eyes became cloudy death. He dropped the machete and it fell next to Aliss harmlessly. His knees wobbled and he fell too, though not-so-harmlessly, on top of Aliss. The breath was knocked out of her and she struggled to get it back. When she did, her broken ribs cried out. She could feel his hot wet blood running from his chest to hers. His face filled her vision, glassy eyes and gaping mouth and pale skin. The face of death.

This time there was no stopping the screaming. And Aliss screamed loud and long, tears running from her eyes and creeping down her cheeks. The weight of the Peacekeeper was removed and Thistel's familiar copper face replaced his. Without thinking, Aliss latched on to this girl who despised her and half sobbed, half screamed into her shoulder, shaking with fear and relief. She could feel Thistel's strain against the sudden weight, but she held Aliss as she cried. The strong, familiar arms of her brother pried her away, and she grasped him tightly instead.

From the gap in his arm she saw that Thistel was still by the body with Sibil. Kye was carrying a very tousled Lila on his back. Several yards from the body stood Evan, feet spread apart, gun in his hands pointed in the direction of the Peacekeeper. His finger was ready at the trigger. His face was the mask of shock, his eyes like saucers, his mouth the shape of an O. But when he saw Aliss's horrified expression peeking out from Jobee's arms, he lowered the gun and his face became an impassive mask.

"Don't look, Aliss," Jobee said. "Just don't look." She sank back, wishing that she could have followed Jobee's advice and not looked.

She relished the cool shade of the tunnels, though people whispered and gasped as they walked by. Aliss cringed at the smell of blood and vomit when they entered the infirmary.

"Oh, Aliss!" Mrs. Everdeen said pitifully. Jobee laid her on the bed, and she saw his worried look. Mrs. Everdeen's face was hard and expressionless, but Aliss could see her jaw working. How bad was it? Suddenly, she felt nauseated and drowsy. All she wanted to do was sleep. She kept her eyes open though, and saw Mrs. Everdeen pick up a thick, long needle.

"Aliss," she said carefully, positioning the needle in on the crease of Aliss's elbow. "You know I love you, but this is going to hurt. Are you ready?"

Weakly, Aliss nodded. She didn't think it was possible to hurt now than she already did.

She was wrong. When Mrs. Everdeen poked that needle into her flesh, pain exploded in her body, pain from her cuts, her broken bones, her bruises—everything was in pain. She closed her eyes and screamed, but these were not the broken sob-screams she made when the body fell on top of her. She screamed a stream of never-ending screams, pausing only when the air deflated her lungs and she gasped to refill them. Hands held down her struggling limbs, cool against her hot skin. She closed her eyes against the blur of shapes, and screamed even harder, for the blank face of the dead Peacekeeper was imprinted against her eyelids.

* * *

**This chapter was gory...sorta. **

**News: I didn't get a lot of response from my question about the Cecil chapter (I'm beginning to doubt that readers actually read my comments—either that, or I just don't have many readers at all) but the responses I did get all said yes, so I'm happy to say that the next chapter will be a Cecil chapter. If everyone likes it, then I might even write more, so make sure to say, "Yes, I liked the Cecil chapter," or "No, I hated the Cecil chapter and I want it to die," in your reviews. In your own way, of course.**

**-Smurf ^^ **


	10. Interrogations and Confrontations

CHAPTER TEN: Interrogations and Confrontations

The Peacekeeper struggled against Cecil and Arroe's grasp foolishly. They walked down the deserted tunnels silently, while he screamed profanities and curses at them. It was giving Cecil a headache. He wished someone would come and take this brute off their hands.

As if in answer to his wish, Bruce sprinted towards them, grasping a club.

"Hey, Bruce, do you think you could—"

"Oh, yeah sure," Bruce said, hitting the Peacekeeper in the head with the club. He went limp in their arms.

"Not exactly what I meant, but hey, it works," Cecil said.

"Guys, I've got bad news," Bruce said. "Aliss is hurt."

"_What?_ Well, where is she?" Arroe yelled, tossing the Peacekeeper to Bruce.

"In the infirmary, but Linda said not to—"

Arroe and Cecil didn't hear what Linda didn't want them to do, because they were already gone.

* * *

Cecil could hear Aliss screaming even before they entered the infirmary. The sound made his blood run cold. Arroe was looking pale. They burst through the doors. The beds were overflowing with injured Mockingjays, and Aliss wasn't the only one screaming. People were swarming around the room, doing the best they could to help. There was a large group of people in the very back of the room, where Aliss's bed was.

The sight was horrible. Aliss was screaming and blindly thrashing about. Jobee and Thistel were doing the best they could to hold her down. Her clothes and face were stained red with blood. They ran and helped Jobee hold her down.

"Aliss! Please hold still! Just one more second and I'll knock you out, okay?" Linda was saying.

"Why can't you just knock her out now?" Arroe yelled.

"She needs to stay awake so I can tell were she's hurt!" Linda said.

"I think that's pretty obvious!"

"She's got broken—" Linda was cut off by a terrible sound from Aliss. Linda cursed.

Cecil flinched. "Can you just knock her out now?"

Linda nodded and injected something into Aliss's IV. She slowly stopped screaming and fell into a drug-induced coma. They all sighed and plopped down.

"She's stronger than she looks," Jobee remarked. Linda got to work.

"What the hell happened?!" Cecil snapped.

"There was a landslide and it took Lila and Aliss down. Lila got the worst of it though. Anyway, at the bottom of the mountain there was a Peacekeeper with this huge machete and Aliss fought him."

"What? Why didn't someone—?"

"When we got there she was on the ground and the guy was raising the machete to kill her," Jobee said coldly.

Cecil flinched again. "Then what happened?"

"Evan shot him. I took Aliss and brought her here," Jobee said, shrugging.

"If you guys are done talking," Linda said harshly, feverishly working over Aliss. "There are more wounded, and since I'm fixing Aliss, I would really appreciate someone helping them."

Jobee and Arroe nodded, turning away and getting to work. Thistel had left immediately after Aliss was unconscious. Cecil hesitated.

Linda looked up and gently said, "You can help me with her. She's pretty banged up. Start tearing that linen into strips."

Nodding, Cecil did as she said, watching her clean and cut and stitch and bandage Aliss.

* * *

After a while, things in the infirmary calmed down. Those who didn't need to stay overnight left, and those who did were mostly unconscious. Cecil learned that three Peacekeepers had been captured. The rest were dead. There had been no casualties on the Mockingjay side, which was good, but there had been fifteen severe injuries, five of which would take weeks for full recovery.

Luckily, Aliss's recovery was only scheduled for three or four days of unconscious healing, and then a week of regular recovery in the hospital bed. After that she would take it easy for a few more days, and she should be fine. This was, of course, if nothing went wrong. Aliss had five severe cuts, two broken ribs, three fractured ribs, a sprained wrist, and minimal internal bleeding. She wasn't the worst case, but even Lila had fared better, arriving with only a minor concussion and a broken leg.

Cecil slept in the infirmary that night. In the morning, Arroe brought him breakfast. He stayed during the next day, helping Linda with the other patents. Jobee came to visit and worked for a while too, but he had to leave to help interrogate the Peacekeepers soon afterwards. Evan came in around noon and stayed for the rest of the evening, also helping out in the infirmary. They didn't talk much. Cecil knew perfectly well why Evan hated him, and the feeling was mutual. Cinna came in and dropped off dinner. Even Thistel visited, though she didn't stay long.

Cecil slept in the infirmary again the next night.

When Arroe came to drop off breakfast, she also delivered a spare change of clothes. "From Cinna," she explained. "You need to get cleaned up, Cecil. I'll stay with her if you want, but take a shower and shave and don't come back until you do. She's not waking up until tomorrow, so I guarantee you won't miss anything."

Cecil glowered, but scooped up the clothes and left for the shower room, which was, regretfully, packed. Cecil waited for a good half hour, got a nice long shower, and shaved as Arroe suggested. On his way out, he ran into Finnick Odair. Cecil had never tolerated Finnick Odair. He was a playboy in Cecil's eyes, and the only reason he got so far in the Hunger Games was his charismatic good looks, his beefy muscles, and his many adoring rich lovers.

"You're Cecil, right?" he asked.

Cecil raised an eyebrow. "Yes."

"Plutarch Heavensbee needs you to interrogate a Peacekeeper."

"So? I've got better things to do," Cecil said, brushing past Finnick and leaving.

Finnick jogged to keep up with him. "Not from what I hear. You've been locked in the infirmary visiting your girlfriend who, may I add, isn't going to wake up until tomorrow."

"She's not my girlfriend, and yes, I consider waiting for an unconscious person to wake up above interrogating a Peacekeeper. There are other people way more qualified than me. Get them to help," Cecil snarled, running his hands through his dark wet hair.

"Heavensbee asked me to get you specifically, so you must be pretty qualified," Finnick said. "And besides, you'd be helping her a lot more by breaking this Peacekeeper. Think about it—if we know what to expect when the Capitol eventually gets here, she'll be safer."

Cecil sighed and rolled his eyes at Finnick's sappy speech. But he did kind of have a point. "If I come with you will you shut up?"

Finnick took this as a yes and led the way, smiling.

* * *

The Peacekeeper was a large, muscular man with an arrogant smile and bright, beady eyes. When Cecil came in he laughed.

"_This_ is your last resort? That's sad. I really expected better," he said boisterously.

Cecil said nothing and kept his face impassive. "So you're a Peacekeeper?"

The Peacekeeper scoffed. "Obviously."

"And your name is...?"

"Like I'm going to tell you," the Peacekeeper spat.

"Okay, you don't have to. It's really not that important. They're going to kill you anyway," Cecil said indifferently.

The Peacekeeper just laughed. "Yeah, right. You can't kill me as long as I have the information you need."

"What makes you think that the other Peacekeepers won't fess up?"

Again, the Peacekeeper chortled. "They didn't tell you? The other two are dead!"

Cecil did not have this information, but he improvised. "I wasn't talking about us. At least, not the head Mockingjays specifically."

"What do you mean?" the Peacekeeper said, suddenly sober.

"I mean all the people that hate you. The people who don't give a damn about information. They just want blood. And they'll kill you to get it," Cecil said darkly. "It's justice in their eyes. What district did you come from?"

"I worked at the Capitol but that's not important! Can't you...head Mockingjays or whatever—can't you protect me?"

"I wish we could," Cecil said, shrugging. "But we're already low enough in numbers as it is. They're not going to waste some decent soldiers on protecting the enemy."

"They would if I have information!" the Peacekeeper yelled.

"Yes, but obviously you're not going to tell us this information, so there's no point," Cecil said, walking away.

"Okay! I'll—" the Peacekeeper froze. He sat back with an amused look and chuckled. "Wow, you are good. You almost got me there. I don't have to worry about getting killed. Everyone will be killed in about two weeks anyway."

Cecil's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Now who's the one getting nervous?" the Peacekeeper taunted. "You're not getting anything out of me."

Cecil thought. Two weeks...what could happen in two weeks...somehow, somewhere, it clicked in his mind. "Do you...do you have a GPS tracker on you?"

The Peacekeeper said nothing, but his eyes told Cecil all he need to know.

"Somebody get in here NOW!" Cecil roared. Seconds later, a little man named Lewis came rushing in.

"What is it?"

"Did you search him?"

"Well, of course!" Lewis said, baffled.

"Apparently not well enough! He's got a GPS on him!"

Lewis was still, shock freezing his face. "W-wha...b-but we s-searched..."

Cecil turned on the Peacekeeper and grabbed his collar. "Where. Is. The. Tracker?"

"It's no use now!" the Peacekeeper said. "The President is probably already on his way here!"

"WHERE IS THE DAMN TRACKER?"

The Peacekeeper stopped laughing. His eyes shifted to his bare arm.

Cecil let him go and said to Lewis, "Did you check _under _the skin?"

"N-no, w-w-we didn't th-think to..."

"Cut that thing out of him and destroy it," Cecil said to Lewis. "NOW!"

Finnick and Heavensbee walked in. "What's with all the yelling?" Heavensbee said.

"The Peacekeeper has a GPS tracker on him," Cecil growled. Lewis had taken his knife and was cutting away at the Peacekeepers arm, while Cecil held him down. The Peacekeeper was bound, of course, but Lewis was still a slight man, and the Peacekeeper struggled against the blade's cruel edge.

"Well that shouldn't be too much of a problem," Finnick said hurriedly. "The President already knows where we are, right? This isn't any new information."

"President Snow knew that we rest in District 13," Plutarch Heavensbee said. "However, that was the extent of his knowledge. Now, he knows that we live underground, what mountains we dwell in, where we keep our prisoners...and who knows what else. The point is that we don't have the advantage of surprise anymore."

Lewis held up a bloody computer chip. "Oh no..."

"Destroy it."

Lewis did, stomping it to bits under his feet. "Now what?"

"Now this Peacekeeper will be silenced and we will deliver the news of war to everyone else," Heavensbee said.

They all left the room, leaving the Peacekeeper alone, screaming in his cell.

* * *

Cecil didn't go to the conference. After the interrogation, he went straight back to the infirmary and told everyone there what had happened. Then he sat down beside Aliss's bed, where Evan already was talking to Madge, District 12's mayor's daughter. She was a pretty blonde girl with blue eyes and a sunny face. All Cecil really knew about her was that she was sixteen and one of Katniss's good friends. And that she had given Katniss the mockingjay pin. Who could forget that?

Evan and Madge eventually left for the conference, the previous glancing back nervously. _He's just as worried about Aliss as I am_, Cecil thought, looking at the unconscious girl. Her eyebrows were drawn together and her mouth was in a tiny frown. Bad dreams? Cecil didn't know.

He dosed off for an hour or two. When he awoke, Arroe was asleep on the cot next to Aliss's, curled up in a little ball with her curls splayed over her face. He woke up again when Evan walked into the room and grabbed a chair to put at the foot of Aliss's bed. He, too, went to sleep, his head resting by Aliss's legs. Cecil followed his example and put his head down next to Aliss's elbow, but jolted awake once again to find that Jobee and Cinna had grabbed two chairs and were sleeping back-to-back near the window. Just when he thought he might get to sleep for good, Linda and Prim walked in.

"What in the world?" Linda said when she spotted the rather large group of people assembled at Aliss's bed. With a groan, Cecil pulled himself into sitting position.

"Aliss is supposed to wake up today, right?" he said.

"Ah, I see..." Linda said. Prim padded along to the others' beds, checking all the monitors and adjusting what needed to be adjusted.

Cecil went to put his head back down when he realized that they were just going to ignore him, but sadly something else got his attention and he wasn't able to get to sleep. That thing was Katniss Everdeen. She marched straight up to Linda, passing Aliss's bed with a look of utter disgust.

"Mother, what are you—?"

"Katniss, she needed to be healed. She's one of us now," Linda said. Cecil got up and stood beside her.

Katniss ignored him. "She will never be one of us!"

"Why not?" Linda inquired, putting her hands on her hips.

"Her father is President Snow! She's probably informing him right now!"

"If she was doing that then he never would have bothered to send those scouts, and besides, it's not her fault that her dad's a total bastard," Cecil remarked.

"No, she has no control over that," Katniss admitted. "But if she was really one of us, she would make a deal with the President and turn herself in to get Peeta and Annie back!"

There was a pause. Then Linda said, "Peeta? Is that what this is all about? Katniss, you know he wouldn't want—"

"Peeta doesn't know what's good for him! He only thinks about others! And he can help us a lot more that _she_ can!"

"You don't know that," Cecil said. "And she has a name—it's Aliss."

"I don't care what her name is! The point is that she's the President's daughter, and he would trade Peeta and Annie to get her back!" Katniss cried.

"Nobody is trading Aliss," Cecil said between his teeth. "Not even if the President surrenders to get her back."

Katniss turned her glare on him. "That's not for _you_ to decide."

"She's not an object!" Cecil practically yelled. "She's a person! You're right, it's not for me to decide, but it's not for you, or Plutarch Heavensbee, or Haymitch to decide either! It's Aliss's choice. Nobody else's."

"Not if she's a traitor!"

"Who said that she was? I've known her since she was kidnapped—I was the one who kidnapped her! And she hasn't shown any signs of working for her father. In fact, she hates him as much as we do!" Cecil seethed.

"You're emotionally attached to her and it's clouding you observations!" Katniss countered.

"Just like your actions are being clouded by your 'emotional attachment' to Peeta! Besides, you don't even know her!"

"Cecil, please keep your voice down," Linda whispered. "And Katniss—"

But her oldest daughter was already storming out of the room with an incredulous look on her face. Linda sighed. "Well, that could have gone better."

Cecil gaped at her. "_Could have gone better_? She's being a total—"

"Cecil, please," Linda said, rubbing her temples. "Just...don't."

"But she—"

"Cecil! Stop!" Linda cried. He stilled. "Go back to sleep, okay? Just...leave it alone for now."

He clenched his jaw. "Fine. But if she even _suggests_ trading Aliss again, I'll—"

"Cecil? Mrs. Everdeen?" someone whispered. Cecil and Linda wheeled around to face Aliss, who was blinking groggily and struggling to sit up on her elbows. She looked around. "What's going on?"

* * *

**Well, there's your Cecil chapter. I hope you liked it! Please, review it and tell me if you want more. **

**-Smurf ^^ **


	11. Recovery

CHAPTER ELEVEN: Recovery

After years of darkness, Aliss could feel.

Not pleasant things, of course. Every part of her body throbbed or burned or stung. But this pain gave her something to hold on to. Pain told her that she wasn't dead.

Next, she could taste. Only bile, but it reassured her that she was coming back into consciousness.

Then, she could hear. The soft breath of sleep. Beeping from machines. After a while, she even heard words. They were distant and toneless, but they were still there.

"What in the world?"

"Aliss is supposed to wake up today, right?"

"Ah, I see..."

_Wake up? I'm supposed to wake up today? _Aliss thought. _How long have I been asleep? _She strained her ears for answers, but the mysterious speakers had gone silent once more. Finally, she heard another voice. This one, she knew, was angry.

"Mother, what are you—?"

"Katniss, she needed to be healed. She's one of us now." There was a shuffle beside Aliss, and the soft breathing was gone. _Katniss? Katniss is here? And Mrs. Everdeen? I must be in the infirmary._

Katniss spoke again. "She will never be one of us!"

Ouch, that was harsh. Like a verbal slap in the face.

"Why not?"

Aliss was aware that she could vaguely detect light. _My sight's coming back!_

"Her father is President Snow! She's probably informing him right now!"_ I am not! _Aliss thought.

"If she was doing that then he never would have sent those scouts, and besides, it's not her fault her dad's a total bastard." _Who is that? _Aliss wondered. _Cecil? Is that Cecil? Why is he in the infirmary? Is he visiting _me_? Or...did somebody else get hurt? Arroe! Is Arroe hurt? Or Jobee? Cinna?_

Aliss was so involved in her thoughts that she didn't pay attention to the conversation until someone—Cecil, she believed—started yelling. "She's not an object! She's a person! You're right, it's not for me to decide, but it's not for you, or Plutarch Heavensbee, or Haymitch to decide either! It's Aliss's choice. Nobody else's."

_Decide what? What am I deciding? What does Katniss want from me? _Aliss screamed in her head. She dared to squint, and was nearly blinded by the amount of light in the room. She closed her eyes tight again.

"Not if she's a traitor!" she heard Katniss exclaim.

"Who said that she was? I've known her since she was kidnapped—I was the one who kidnapped her! And she hasn't shown any signs of working for her father. In fact, she hates him just as much as we do!" Cecil said.

"You're emotionally attached to her and it's clouding your observations!" Katniss screeched. _What is going on?! _Aliss tried squinting again, and it wasn't as bad, but she still had to close her eyes seconds afterward. All she caught were three figures standing with their backs to her.

"Just like your actions are being clouded by your 'emotional attachment' to Peeta! Besides, you don't even know her!"

Finally, Mrs. Everdeen jumped into the conversation. "Cecil, please keep your voice down. And Katniss—"

There was silence except for the steady thud of angry footsteps. Aliss assumed that Katniss had left. She tried squinting again.

"Well, that could have gone better," Mrs. Everdeen said. Aliss could see her hands making circles around her temples. She shut her eyes again, painfully.

"_Could have gone better_? She's being a total—"

"Cecil, please. Just don't," Mrs. Everdeen said. She sounded exhausted.

"But she—"

"Cecil! Stop!" Mrs. Everdeen said sharply. Aliss's eyes flew open in surprise, and she cringed, shutting them once more. "Go back to sleep, okay? Just leave it alone for now."

Aliss couldn't stand it anymore. She slowly opened her eyes just as Cecil replied, "Fine. But if she even suggests trading Aliss again, I'll—"

"Cecil? Mrs. Everdeen?" Aliss asked as innocently as she could. She tried sitting up on her elbows, but it sent pain writhing down her side and arms. "What's going on?"

"Aliss!" they both cried, coming over to her bed. Evan's head snapped up from Aliss's feet. Aliss then realized how many people were there. Cecil and Jobee were in two chairs, back-to-back, sleeping by the window. Nearly all the cots were filled, including the one next to her. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw it was Arroe, curled up in a ball, sleeping.

"Is Arroe hurt?" she asked worriedly.

"What? Oh, no she's just sleeping. We were all waiting for you to wake up," Cecil said. He was smiling brilliantly. Mrs. Everdeen was fluttering around Aliss, checking to make sure everything was okay. Evan was still processing what was going on.

"Aliss?" he said, confused. Finally, he realized what was going on. "Aliss!"

Aliss laughed. "Hey, Evan. Good to see you, too."

Cecil went around, shaking the other three awake. Arroe was absolutely delighted to see Aliss awake, and, much to Mrs. Everdeen's horror, hugged her fiercely. Jobee, Cinna, and Evan hugged her too, but much more gently. Cecil did nothing but sit in a chair beside Aliss's bed and play with her fingers absently.

"So, exactly how long was I out?" Aliss asked.

"Three days," Mrs. Everdeen said.

Aliss blanched. "_Three whole days_? What happened?"

"While you were out, or what caused you to be out?" Cecil asked.

"Both, please."

"How much do you remember?"

"The landslide...the Peacekeeper..." Aliss shuttered. "Coming into the infirmary. That's it."

"Okay. Let's start to when Linda injected you with painkiller," Cecil said.

"I'm sorry, but did you say pain_killer_?" Aliss said with an apologetic glance at Mrs. Everdeen.

"Yes. Before I injected you, you were still in shock and in so much pain that you could barely feel anything at all," Mrs. Everdeen explained.

Cecil cleared his throat. "May I continue?"

And so, they told Aliss everything: her surgeries, the two days after the surgeries, the Peacekeeper's interrogation, the GPS chip. Aliss was astounded that she missed so much. She did notice, however, that Cecil and Mrs. Everdeen had left out their argument with Katniss. They didn't mention it, so she didn't mention it either. Besides, she had missed an awful lot of it anyway.

"Okay, now that you're fully informed," Mrs. Everdeen said after they finished their story. "May I check on your injuries?"

"Oh, um...sure?" Aliss replied, but the head nurse had already set to her task, not bothering to wait for permission.

Cinna soon left to begin his work in the clothing chambers, stepping forward to hug Aliss but settling for a wave instead, fearing Mrs. Everdeen's vicious glare. Jobee managed to dodge the flustered nurse to embrace Aliss before he departed. Evan and Cecil showed no signs of leaving. The previous even stood up and began to attend to the other injured soldiers. Cecil settled back in his chair, smirking.

"You know, your friend has developed a fondness for Madge," he said after a moment.

Indeed, Aliss had noticed that Evan wandered over to talk to a pretty blonde girl, though she had not known her name. "That's okay," Aliss remarked. "He can have other friends. In fact, I'm glad that he's fitting in here. I was nervous that people would shun him because he was a Peacekeeper."

Cecil laughed bitterly. "This coming from the President's daughter?"

Mrs. Everdeen, who had happened to be walking by at that moment, whacked him in the head sharply. "You two hush up about that. No one knows yet."

"Actually, if you think about it, a lot of people know," Cecil said thoughtfully. "You, me, Heavensbee, Haymitch, Finnick, Katniss, Arroe, Jobee, Cinna, and Ian."

"Evan," Aliss quickly corrected.

Mrs. Everdeen scoffed. "Please. That's not a lot of people, especially considering the capacity of the rebels."

"Still, all I'm saying is that if it leaks out..."

"Do you honestly believe that any of those people would say anything?" Mrs. Everdeen said. "And besides, the best way to keep it from leaking out is to _not mention it_, which brings me back to what I said earlier—hush up about it." She turned to Aliss, holding a damp white rag with an antiseptic odor misting from it. "This might sting a little," she warned, blue eyes full of pity. She brought the rag down on her patient's face, sending a profound sting through her skin. Aliss grimaced, but said nothing. Mrs. Everdeen did the same thing to the rest of her wounds, pausing every once in a while to dip the rag in a frosty blue liquid. With each dab Aliss's hand tightened around Cecil's, for the potency of the sting was renewed each time.

Finally, after Mrs. Everdeen had dabbed each cut, she spread a minty green ointment over every wound and redressed them tenderly. "There," she said after taping the last of the gauze. Aliss was glad to have her wounds covered by the mighty stretch of thin cloth. She was aghast at the brokenness of her own body, and Cecil noticed.

"It's really not as bad as it looks," he assured her when Mrs. Everdeen revealed the many bruises and cuts concealed by the blanket. "Right, Linda?"

"Oh, no, of course not," Mrs. Everdeen replied, catching on quickly. "Just a couple scrapes. Nothing I can't handle."

Aliss was not convinced. Pain still found its way through the heavy doses of medication that Mrs. Everdeen urged her to tolerate, and soon Aliss knew every cut, every bruise, every broken bone that inflicted her physical being. She hadn't realized how critical her condition had been. Even her face hurt.

"Mrs. Everdeen," Aliss said that evening, so drowsy with drugs that she was only half conscious. "Why does my face hurt?"

"Your face? You mean you don't remember?" the head nurse replied. Cecil's eyebrows creased.

"No."

"You were cut in battle, Aliss. Nothing major—you didn't need too many stitches. You will have a quite a scar though," she added, frowning slightly. "You don't remember at all?"

Aliss struggled through the fog that clouded her mind, not only from the medicine, but from something else too. "I remember...he got my arm...I threw a dagger at him...then I was on the ground...and Evan shot him," she finished lamely. "Right?"

Cecil and Mrs. Everdeen were staring at her now. As if sensing that something was wrong, Evan slid into the conversation.

"No, Aliss," Mrs. Everdeen said slowly. "That's not right. You don't remember being cut in the face by a machete? Are you sure?"

"No, I don't! Maybe you're mistaken. I could have been scratched on my way down here, or..." Aliss droned on, desperate to find a solution. The fog was becoming thicker, and she found it harder and harder to keep her eyelids open. _But I don't want to go to sleep yet!_ she thought. _Why can't I remember...? _It would have been different if she could feel something there, anything, even the very edge of the memory. But there was nothing to grasp at. It was like a movie playing in her head: she was throwing the dagger, and then she was on the ground. There wasn't even any blankness between those two frames. But that didn't make any sense. If she was on the ground, then the Peacekeeper must have struck her somehow, right? Why couldn't she remember?

It was getting too foggy to think. The effort was exhausting, and even then her thoughts came reluctant and stiff. She decided to trust what her friends said, at least until she could snag a credible memory.

Mrs. Everdeen noticed her fatigue. "It's no big deal. You're just tired. We'll let you get some rest and then we'll see how your memory is working tomorrow, okay?"

Aliss nodded, relieved. " 'Kay."

And she let sleep drag her under.

* * *

The next morning, Aliss still couldn't remember. Mrs. Everdeen was very concerned, but in the end just put it down as shock.

The next week passed by slowly and uneventfully. Aliss was stranded in the hospital bed every hour of every day, and most of the time Cecil was anchored beside her. Cinna brought over her sketch binder, but it hurt to draw. There were no books to read. As a result, Aliss spent most of her time sleeping or talking to Cecil. Arroe visited every day, Jobee and Cinna almost as frequently. Even Thistel stopped by occasionally, but only to talk to Cecil. Or so she claimed.

Two days before Aliss's release date, she tried to walk. It was one of those rare occasions when both Cecil and Evan were gone, and no one else was in the infirmary to supervise her. The only other people present were bed-ridden themselves, and most of them were unconscious. Sitting up was no problem for Aliss at this point, and she did so quietly. The only thing that she was hooked onto now was the IV, and that wouldn't make any noise, so she swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood.

The nausea was instantaneous. Gripping her IV, she lowered herself onto the bed again, her face pale and covered with a sweaty sheen. She squeezed her eyes shut, gritted her teeth, and tried again. Her eyes widened at the pain that ripped through her body, and she clung to the IV mercilessly, but she remained standing.

Panting, Aliss looked up. Taking a deep breath, she took one excruciating step. And then another. And then another. She didn't know where she was going, but she wanted to go somewhere. She took another step.

Her knees wavered, and she stumbled. Her grip tightened on the IV, and she remained upright. She allowed herself a whimper, and then pressed her lips together in a line. The IV bag was shaking, and Aliss realized that it was because she was trembling. She took another breath to steady herself, but it came as a gasp. She straightened herself up. Her legs were like noodles, and she stumbled again. This time she was not able to keep herself upright, and she collapsed onto the floor. She was struggling to pull herself up when she heard a voice call her name.

"Aliss!" Madge said. She hurried to the fallen patient and half dragged, half carried her to the bed, trying to be as gentle as possible. Aliss lay there, panting heavily, while Madge rightened the IV. "What were you _doing_?" she asked finally.

"I...was trying...to walk," Aliss explained.

"You're in the infirmary for a reason, and it's not to walk. It's to get better," Madge scolded.

"Tired...of doing...nothing."

Madge ran her hands over her face. "You do realize this little stunt is going to keep you here longer, right?"

"What?" Aliss cried, attempting to sit up again, but failing horribly. "No! I'm fine!"

"It doesn't matter if you're fine or not," Madge said. "Once Linda hears about this then she will keep you here until you are fully healed, which could take weeks. She doesn't want you over-exerting yourself. It's dangerous."

"Then don't...tell her!" Aliss wheezed.

"I can't!" Madge said. "You're her patient and she wants to ensure your health. Besides, if I didn't tell her then how would I explain your sudden exhaustion?"

"I sleep...half the time. She won't notice. In fact, she'll worry more...if I stay here longer. So will Evan," Aliss pointed out. She hated to manipulate Madge's feelings like this, especially after she just rescued her from lying on the floor and being discovered by Mrs. Everdeen...or worse, Cecil. But she had no choice. She was going to get out of here in two days, so she could do something to prove to Katniss that she was really a Mockingjay. And besides that, the President's army was less than two weeks away, supposedly. She couldn't stay in bed while there was fighting going on.

Madge bit her lip. "They will be even more upset if they found out that I didn't tell them."

"They're not going to find out. And even if you do tell them, what makes you think I won't try and escape again when I'm able?" Aliss challenged.

Madge's eyes narrowed. "I can't believe you're resorting to that! Fine, I won't tell them about this little episode, but you can't try it again, okay?"

"Okay."

"And I'm telling Cecil," Madge said as an afterthought.

"You don't trust me?" Aliss said sarcastically.

"No. Not one bit. Not when it comes to this," Madge said. She turned to walk off, but looked back. "They'll all be very upset if your condition gets worse. You don't have a lot of energy in the first place, and escape attempts like that aren't healthy. You need to _rest_. That includes the few days after you're released. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am," Aliss said, grinning. Madge rolled her eyes and stalked off. Aliss soon fell asleep.

* * *

"Is this wheelchair really necessary?" Aliss inquired, quite irritated. It had been two days after her so-called "escape attempt." Madge had kept true to her word and not told Mrs. Everdeen or Evan, as far as Aliss could tell, but Cecil never let her out of his sight from then on. His expression was heavy with disapproval, but he said nothing, and neither did Aliss. She decided that she wasn't going to open that particular can of worms for the time being and taint her chances of being released. On the morning of her release, Mrs. Everdeen checked every bandage and every bruise, but when she couldn't find any reason that Aliss should stay, she surrendered.

However, this was not the end of Aliss's torture. When Evan arrived, he was cheerfully pushing a wheelchair ahead of him. Aliss snapped at him, but he hurriedly explained that it wasn't his idea. It was Cecil's. They argued, but Aliss lost, and was presently being pushed along the tunnels of District 13, fuming as she did so.

"Yes," Cecil said simply. "We wouldn't want to upset your fragile condition, now would we?"

Aliss gaped at him. "This is revenge for my escape attempt!" Even thought Aliss hadn't really thought about escaping when it happened, she had taken to calling it that, since "walking attempt" sounded odd. She was perfectly capable of walking now, as she had pointed out in their argument, just not for long distances.

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. It really doesn't matter; you're riding in this wheelchair whether it's revenge or just genuine concern for your health," Cecil said.

It was silent for a moment. Randomly, Aliss asked a question that had gnawed at her for some time. "Cecil, were you close to someone who died in a hospital bed?"

The wheelchair came to a halt so suddenly that Aliss had to grasp the armrests to keep from being flung out. "What makes you think that?" Cecil said stiffly.

Aliss looked up, worried at his tone of voice. His jaw was working feverishly and he was staring straight ahead. She trembled slightly, but decided to pursue the subject. "Well," she began carefully. "You just seem...particularly anxious when someone ends up in the infirmary."

"Who wouldn't be?"

"No, I mean more anxious than most people. You didn't leave Jobee's side when that wild dog scratched him, and Arroe told me that you hardly left the infirmary when I was injured. It just seemed strange to me that you would be so concerned to drop everything and watch an injured person sleep."

Cecil was silent. He pushed the wheelchair slowly, still staring straight ahead. When Aliss had almost given up on getting an answer, he finally spoke. "Yeah," he said. "You're right. My sister died in the infirmary last year." He said nothing more, and Aliss, feeling as though she'd intruded, didn't ask anything else.

They entered the room she shared with Arroe, who was lying in her bed sharpening a knife. She stopped and grinned when she saw them.

"Happy homecoming!" she greeted, hugging them both. "Glad to be out of the hospital, I assume?"

"Definitely," Aliss said.

"I don't see why," Cecil said. "You're not going to be doing much else here than what you were doing there."

Aliss stuck her tongue out at him. "You're not the boss of me."

"No, but I do have Mrs. Everdeen on my side. Imagine what she would think if she knew about your little escape attempt," he said.

"Blackmail? That's low."

"Tough."

"You tried to escape?" Arroe asked, confused. Aliss and Cecil, who had completely forgotten she was there, looked at her dumbfounded expression and burst into laughter.

* * *

No matter what Cecil threatened, Aliss traveled the tunnels of District 13 during the days of her scheduled recovery. She was sick and tired of being stuck in bed, unable to do anything. She pushed herself to her physical limits, walking great distances—for her broken body anyway—and stopping to use the wheelchair or to go back to the room only when she was too exhausted to move. Cecil scowled at her and forced her to go back to the room when he caught her in the tunnels, but Arroe seemed perfectly fine with Aliss's exercise. To Aliss's surprise, Evan was okay with it too, though he preferred she use the wheelchair and not exert herself by walking.

Although she was unable to wield a knife yet, Aliss went with Arroe to the training grounds to sit and watch the mock-battles, or the archery range, or occasionally even the gun stalls. When she wasn't with her roommate in the training grounds, she was with Cinna in the clothing chambers. She did help with the clothes, even though it brought a dull throbbing sensation to her arm. But this was still better than lying in bed, doing nothing.

Three days after her release, when Aliss was washing clothes with Cinna in the chambers, the conversation with Cecil about his sister crossed her mind. She didn't know what brought it on, but she did know that Cinna, being Cecil's cousin, could tell her what happened. She was nervous that asking him would bring on a similar reaction, but she was just too curious.

"Cinna," she said, "the other day, Cecil told me he had a sister."

Cinna froze. "Did he?"

"Yes," she said carefully. "He didn't tell me much about her, only that she...isn't here anymore. I was wondering if you could tell me what happened?"

Cinna thawed and continued his work. He looked at her with sad eyes. "Why do you want to know?"

"I don't know. I'm just curious I guess. You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to or if I'm not supposed to know," Aliss said truthfully. "I just...feel like I _should_ know these things though. One minute I feel like I completely belong here, that I've been here forever, and then I learn something from the past and...it reminds me that I _haven't _been here forever. That there are connections and events that I'm completely unaware of. Like when I learned that you and Cecil were cousins, or that Mrs. Everdeen's first name is Linda."

"…Her name was Dawn," Cinna said after a long pause. "She was Cecil's older sister. They were very close, and very similar. She was just as sarcastic and suspicious as he is. They even looked alike—same curly brown hair, same hazel eyes. They were practically twins.

"Anyway, about a year ago, she found out that some people in District 13 were really Capitol spies. She told Heavensbee, but he didn't believe her because one of the people she listed was his good friend. That "good friend" discovered that Dawn knew about him and his colleagues, and they attacked her.

"Dawn was a vicious and skilled fighter. She killed two of her three attackers, and injured the third. However, they had the element of surprise as well as a bigger number, and by the time someone discovered her, she was dying. They rushed her to the infirmary and Mrs. Everdeen did all she could, but that night Dawn passed away.

"Cecil was crushed," Cinna finished. "I don't think he's really gotten over it yet. No one mentions it. Did you ask him about it?"

"Yes," Aliss said hoarsely. "I'm sorry I did now. That's horrible, what happened to her."

"It is," Cinna agreed. "I think that he's begun to recover from it recently."

"What makes you think that?"

"He smiles now."

"He didn't smile before?" Aliss asked.

Cinna gave her an intense look. "Not before you came along."

* * *

**It took a while to write, but here you go: an extra long chapter. You'll have to forgive me for delay. I was on vacation, and I had limited computer access. But I'm back now, and my writing is too. :)**

**-Smurf ^^ **


	12. Messenger

CHAPTER TWELVE: Messenger

Even though Aliss checked out of the infirmary, Evan still worked there. He found that he enjoyed helping people get better, and not shooting them down in the first place. He also enjoyed the company there—the patents, Linda, Prim, the visitors, and Madge, his particular friend. She was gentle and had nothing but good things to say about other people. Another thing Evan liked about her was that she didn't judge Aliss on what nasty things Katniss was sure to say about her. She made her own observations.

"She's very determined and strong," Madge said one day. "But kind at the same time. And she's a great artist. I like her."

"Does Katniss ever say anything about her?" Evan asked cautiously. He didn't know if Madge was aware of Aliss's true identity, and if she wasn't, he wanted to keep it that way.

"Not much, but it's rather plain to see that she doesn't like her very much. Do you know why?" Madge replied, looking up from her task.

"No," Evan lied. So Madge didn't know, and Katniss hadn't said anything. Interesting. Perhaps she thought that Madge wouldn't be on her side if she spoke of it. Either way, Evan was sure that it was a confidential matter, and spoke about it no more.

With that topic barricaded, they found other things to talk about. Madge turned out to be the daughter of the District 12 mayor. Although she and Katniss were very close now, it wasn't always that way. They were both very shy, though Evan found this hard to believe about the fierce Hunger Games survivor, and as a result were often grouped together in school activities. Madge said that she didn't realize how close she really was to Katniss until she went off to play the Hunger Games.

"She was just someone that was always there, you know? Someone that I didn't really think about because I could rely on her. The prospect of losing her hit me harder than I expected. After she won, we became very good friends. In many ways, Katniss was the only friend I ever had," Madge said wistfully.

"I can relate to that. I was fairly isolated myself, back home. My mother homeschooled me, and my father trained me to be a Peacekeeper. That had always been their dream for me—to become a Peacekeeper of the highest rank and assist the President in Capitol affairs. My dear old loyalist parents," Evan said bitterly. "Practically worshipped the ground President Snow walked on. Because of them, the only people I've ever been close to are Aliss and Rosemary."

"And now me," Madge said, looking up and giving him a sweet smile.

Evan smiled back. "Yes, now you."

* * *

Evan could see that Cecil was becoming increasingly concerned about Aliss. His dislike for Cecil had simmered down to tolerance, since he had to spend an absurd amount of time with him in the infirmary after Aliss was injured. Evan didn't know what it was about, but Cecil's concern was concerning Evan, so one day he asked.

They were in the training area, watching Aliss and Arroe talk. Aliss had fully recovered from her attack, and the visible evidence was the hairline scar that ran from her upper cheekbone to the side of her mouth. You couldn't even really see that, since her skin was so fair. It crinkled slightly when she smiled, but other than that, it made no mutation on her face.

Cecil didn't even glance his way when he answered. He stared at Aliss, his eyebrows creasing behind the hair that flopped on his forehead. "She still doesn't remember when the Peacekeeper struck her across the face with the machete. I don't want her to fight until she remembers."

It was true—Aliss was fighting Arroe for the first time today. Evan hadn't been aware of Aliss's amnesia, but he couldn't see any reason Cecil should be anxious.

"Why?" he asked.

"Dunno," Cecil said, turning away from Aliss and giving Evan an agitated look. "I just am."

"Did you tell her?"

"Well duh. But she's dead set on fighting today, and Arroe was on her side too," he snapped.

The watched as Arroe and Aliss made their way to opposite sides of the clearing, holding up their practice blades. They stood, poised, until Arroe called, "READY, FIGHT!" and they charged at each other, the little quick force meeting the tall elegant one.

Just as they were getting ready to collide, Aliss crippled. She shrunk back from Arroe's faux blade as it rose for a jab, grimacing. Cecil jumped up. Arroe froze, and lowered her fake weapon.

"Aliss?"

She sheepishly smiled at Arroe. "Sorry, I froze up a little. I guess I'm just out of practice. Let's try again."

They went back to their stances. Cecil remained standing. Arroe called, they charged, and...Aliss shrunk away from her opponent's practice blade again. Arroe lowered it once more, glancing at Cecil with a worried expression. He marched over there, Evan following.

"Aliss, what's wrong?" Cecil said, gently putting a hand on her shoulder. Evan resisted the urge to scowl.

"Nothing, I'm just...a little shaken," Aliss said.

"You sure? I'm sure Arroe won't mind waiting until you're ready to—"

"No!" Aliss said hastily. "I can't afford to wait any longer! The President will be here any day now, and I need to be trained!"

"Aliss, if President Snow was on his way here, we would know by now," Arroe said softly. "We've got spies in all the districts. No one has seen or heard anything suspicious, so we've probably still got a whole two weeks left. You don't have to rush anything. You're ready when you're ready."

"I'm ready now!"

"No, you're not. You just think you are," Arroe said. "It's trauma. I need you to go to the room. No more fighting today."

"But—"

"No ifs, ands, or buts. I'm not going to fight you today, and I'm going to instruct everyone else to refuse you too. You need to wait and rest," Arroe said.

"I've rested for a week now!" Aliss exclaimed, close to tears.

"It's not the same kind of rest," Arroe explained. "That was for your body. Now you need to rest your mind. Go."

Aliss, looking very angry and hurt, shook off Cecil's hand and stormed out of the training area. Her three friends watched her leave, very worried.

* * *

The next day, Aliss was in the training area. For the first couple hours, she didn't fight even one person, because every time someone charged at her, she shrunk away. Eventually, she progressed, but she still tried to dodge blows instead of blocking them, and she was so busy dodging that she hardly landed a blow herself. Evan watched with Cecil and Arroe the whole day, not stopping by the infirmary once.

Evan shook his head, frustrated. "Why is she doing that?" he asked to no one in particular.

"She's traumatized, Evan. She's lost the confidence in her knife fighting," Arroe answered. "She needs to gain it back."

"How long will that take?"

Arroe shrugged sadly. "I don't know."

Aliss worked hard all day, but made minimal progress. By that afternoon, she was drenched in sweat and angry tears were spilling down her cheeks.

"Why can't I fight?" she wailed. "What's wrong with me?"

"There's nothing wrong with you, Aliss," Cecil said.

"He's right," Arroe stepped in, giving her a reassuring hug. "You're just in shock, that's all."

Aliss pulled herself out of Arroe's grasp. "Why does everyone tell me that? I don't feel like I'm in shock," she added stubbornly, wiping her face with her wrists. "I feel fine."

"You don't look like you feel fine," Cecil remarked, throwing an arm around her shoulders. Aliss gave a tiny hiccup of laughter. Evan couldn't help but feel a sharp pang of jealousy.

"Sorry, I'm just frustrated. I didn't mean to have a fit," she said.

Arroe rolled her eyes. "There's no need to apologize, Aliss. You just narrowly escaped death in battle. I think we can excuse a tiny meltdown."

Again, Aliss laughed. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Aren't I always?" Arroe said, taking steps toward the door. "Now what you need to do is eat and get a good night sleep. You can try again tomorrow, if you want."

"Of course I do!" Aliss exclaimed. "I'm going to train until I'm just as good as I was before. Better, even! I'm not going to lose in battle again."

"Well, there's no rush," Evan said, a little surprised by her sudden determination.

"Right," Aliss mumbled, almost inaudibly. "No rush..."

* * *

Evan went into the infirmary the next morning. He decided that Arroe and Cecil were perfectly capable of comforting Aliss if she was in need of it. Probably more capable than he was.

"Hey, stranger," Madge said happily when he walked in. "Where were you yesterday?"

The question was not obtrusive or demanding—it was just simple curiosity. Evan saw no reason not to answer. "Aliss is having trouble with her knife fighting. Every time the blade comes to her she just...shrivels. It's weird. Arroe says that she needs to gain her confidence back, but I don't know..."

"Hmmmm..." Madge pondered. "Perhaps it has something to do with her amnesia?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if, when the practice blade comes down on her—assuming she's shorter than her opponent—she sees the Peacekeeper's machete striking her face? It's only a theory, and I'm sure she is still in shock, but that could be part of it," she explained.

"I don't know...wouldn't she have told us if she remembered?" Evan wondered.

"I don't think so," Madge said. "She seems like the kind of person that likes to handle things herself."

"Yeah, she is...and Cecil was worried about that yesterday...hmmm. That could be it," Evan decided.

"What are you going to do now?"

"I think...I'll just leave it alone. Let her handle it herself. She improved a lot today," Evan said.

"I think that's a good choice. I hope she gets better."

"Me too," Evan agreed.

Madge nodded. "You must be pretty worried about her. She's like a sister to you, so this must be hard to watch."

"You're right," Evan said, having a sudden epiphany. "She is like a sister."

"Umm...yeah," Madge said, concerned with his sudden vacancy. She waved a hand in front of his face. "Evan? You okay?"

"Hmm? Yeah, I'm okay. Great even," Evan said happily.

Madge shook her head, a small smile of amusement playing on her lips.

"What?"

"Nothing, Evan."

* * *

Any trace of Evan's jealousy dissolved after that. He still had a negative opinion of Cecil, of course, but he was convinced that he'd found his place in Aliss's new life.

As for Aliss's fighting, it was improving tremendously. She could defeat nearly every opponent now and was progressing every day. Evan didn't know what caused this sudden improvement, but he wasn't too concerned with that. He was just glad that she was back to normal.

But unfortunately, Aliss didn't see it like this.

"I'm going to train until I'm twice as good as before!" she said when Evan praised her recent improvement. "I'm going to make sure that I can defeat any Peacekeeper that crosses my path!" With that said, she went to find another idle knife bearer to fight.

Arroe, who was present for this outburst, sighed. Evan turned to her.

"At least she got her confidence back," he said. He still hadn't told anyone about Madge's theory. He'd had no need to, since Aliss was progressing so quickly.

"That's not confidence," Arroe corrected. "She won't be whole again until she defeats the best knife fighter here."

"Who's that?"

"Me, I guess. Everyone else seems to think so, at least," she said.

"Do you think she will?"

Arroe laughed. "She exceeded my skills a while ago. But she refuses to fight me until she's sure she can win. And I'm letting her. Another defeat will crush what tiny confidence she's regained."

"If you battled her, and you knew you were capable of defeating her, would you let her win?" Evan asked.

"No," Arroe said after much thought. "I want her to defeat me, too. I know that if she does, she'll be safe in a real battle. Besides, she'd know if I went easy on her."

They watched her for some time, a blur of color against the still surprise of her opponent. Finally, Aliss made a kill cut and help her opponent, Sibil, off the ground. Someone tapped Evan on the shoulder. He turned to see Siobhan.

"Plutarch Heavensbee called for a conference in the Main Hall," she said in a rush, quickly drifting away to warn the next person. Evan passed the message on to Arroe and Aliss and Sibil, when they approached. Together they began walking towards the Main Hall, alerting anyone they saw as they passed.

"What do you think it's about this time?" Sibil wondered, twisting a lock of brown hair around her finger.

"I don't know," Evan said. "But there's only one way to find out."

By this time they'd reached the Main Hall, where a very large crowd was gathering. Sibil drifted off to find her husband, and Aliss managed to track down Cecil and Jobee, who were looking extremely nervous.

"Do you know what this is about?" Aliss asked suspiciously.

Hesitantly, Jobee nodded. He bent down and whispered to them, "Thistel told me. The techies are tracking a foreign aircraft that drifted into District 13."

As if to confirm Jobee's story, Plutarch Heavensbee spoke into his megaphone and began speaking, causing authoritive silence to ripple through the crowd.

"ATTENTION!" he called. "MAY I HAVE YOUR UNDIVIDED ATTENTION, PLEASE! IT APPEARS THAT THERE IS A FOREIGN OBJECT IN THE BORDERS OF DISTRICT 13. NOW, I DON'T WANT ANYONE DRAWING WEAPONS QUITE YET. OUR TECH DEPARTMENT HAS ASSURED ME THAT THIS CRAFT IS NOT CAPABLE OF ANY DAMAGE. IT IS A MESSENGER AIRCRAFT. I HAVE GATHERED YOU ALL HERE SO YOU CAN WITNESS THIS FOR YOURSELF. NOW EVERYONE, PLEASE BE SILENT. THE AIRCRAFT IS ABOVE US AS WE SPEAK."

There was absolute quiet in the Hall. The Mockingjays waited anxiously for this mysterious aircraft to bring its message. Evan noticed some drawing their weapons, oblivious to Heavensbee's request. Aliss, Arroe, and Cecil were included in this category.

Suddenly, a small silver flash broke through the orange netting that lined the domed ceiling of the Hall. It stopped, suspended in midair, in the very center of the Main Hall, so everyone could see the message. The aircraft looked like two silver plates pressed together by their rims. A series of maze-like gaps and tiny impressions covered every square inch of its surface, much like the rough surface of a computer chip. On the top and bottom it had a single flashing red light.

The bottom lowered, slowly separating itself from the top. A transparent cylinder of green trailed behind it, filling the gap between the two sections. The bottom stopped when it was about a two yards from its beginning point, and inside the green cylinder there was suddenly the wavering green form of President Snow. With a polite smile, he spoke.

"My dear rebels," he began. "This is a simple hologram. I must reassure you, although you can see me, I cannot see you.

"This luxury you have might not last very long, however," he continued. "For the scouts that I sent out to you a month ago had GPS trackers inserted in their skin. You probably already know this, considering the final signal was lost a mere two days after their arrival. I must say, Mockingjays, I'm impressed. You acted very quickly.

"But not quickly enough, I'm afraid. Now I know infinitely more than you should be comfortable with. As we speak, I'm sending thousands of Peacekeepers to your little city. They will be there in approximately two weeks, give or take a day. And rest assured—they are highly qualified, and _they will destroy you_." He paused, letting this sink in.

"But there is a way to stop your deaths. When my troops arrive in two weeks, you must do these three simple tasks. First, you must surrender yourselves without a fight and let the Peacekeepers bring you back to your rightful districts. Second, you must agree to never rebel again, and punishment for your actions I will be sending twice as many children into the Hunger Games arena every year—two boys and two girls from each District. Also, the tribute ages will be increased. Instead of being twelve through eighteen years of age, the tributes will be ten through twenty years of age. And finally, my third request is the return of my daughter, whose existence I have regrettably kept secret from the citizens of Panem," he said. A rumble went through the crowd. Aliss eyes widened, and her face went green.

"If you do everything I just asked, I promise the safe return of nearly every rebel. Most of you have been tricked or tempted into this uprising. The only ones who will be punished are the leaders of the rebellion. Also, I will return the three Hunger Games tributes that I have taken from you, Peeta Mellark, Johanna Mason, and Annie Cresta, to their rightful districts. Personally, I think this is a generous and lenient offer, considering all that you've put the Capitol through. Oh, and for those of you who don't know, my daughter's name is Aliss Raechelle Snow."

The two plates simply came back together, not waiting for the President's form to flicker away. When they joined, the messenger aircraft dropped to the floor and shattered into a million pieces, leaving the whole population of Mockingjays facing an equally broken future.

* * *

**Do you know how hard it was to find Annie's last name? I couldn't find it on Google, or Yahoo, or Bing (Because It's Not Google), or any other search engine I knew. I even went on fan sites for the Hunger Games series, but alas, Annie's last name was nowhere to be found. I ended up having to flip through _Catching Fire _to find it. Page 347 ;) **

**I also had to make up Katniss's mother's first name, because it too was nowhere to be found, not even in _The Hunger Games_. So if you DO know Mrs. Everdeen's first name, please tell me in your reviews and I will change it from Linda to...well, whatever it is. You have to give me proof though. A website where you found it, a page number in a book; I don't care, but I'm not going to change it just because someone decides that they like that name better. So there.**

**This was a short chapter, especially compared to the monstrous chapter previous to this one. My next chapter will, hopefully, be longer and better, because other than the message craft part I don't think that it was too interesting. But most of the stuff in this chapter is important, and needed to be fit in somewhere in the story. You can call it an "Information Chapter" if you like. **

**-Smurf ^^**


	13. Apologies

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Apologies

Everyone stared at the shattered messenger craft with identical expressions—shock and horror. Then the chaos started. The crowd rushed towards Aliss, not sure what they were going to do, but they knew that she was no longer an ally. She was guilty by association and they wanted no part of her.

The revolt seemed to shake her friends out of their stupor, at least. They, too, raised their weapons, ready to protect Aliss. _She_ didn't want to hurt these people though. She'd been living with them for a good three months! So she was jostled in the little circle Arroe, Cecil, Evan, and Jobee made around her, incapable of defending herself for fear of harming anyone else.

Plutarch Heavensbee's voice boomed through the Main Hall, louder than the roar of the crowd, even louder than the blood rushing in Aliss's ears. "QUIET! EVERYONE CALM DOWN _THIS INSTANT_!"

Most people stopped and gaped at the platform, frozen by the authoritive tone in his voice. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Aliss, come up here please. And if anyone touches her, they will be severely punished."

Cecil grabbed Aliss's hand and led her up to the platform. Arroe was close behind her, stepping on the heels of her boots, and Evan and Jobee were on either side of her, watching the crowd closely. No one reached for her. They made it to the platform safely. Katniss looked at her incredulously. Finnick attempted a small smile. Haymitch's face was expressionless. Plutarch Heavensbee looked down at her kindly. He put a hand on her shoulder and turned her towards angry eyes of the crowd, ushering her friends away. Her stomach plunged when Cecil's hand slipped from hers.

"Mockingjays!" he said through the megaphone, though the volume was quite lower than when he had scolded them. "This is Aliss Raechelle Snow. She came here about three months ago. She helped save Jobee Quao from certain death. She learned to fight in our training grounds. She ate in our cafeteria. She wears the clothes from the garment department. She almost died battling a Peacekeeper on our behalf. And she has befriended a great many of you.

"I admit, we knew who she was. She informed us of her identity the moment she arrived. We didn't tell you because we feared your reaction, and it was wrong of us. We should have told you. It would have been harder on Aliss here, but at least you wouldn't have had to find out this way. I apologize greatly.

"But I have a question for you, my fearless rebels. What makes this girl, Aliss Snow, different now that you know? She's still the same fighter. She still eats the same food and wears the same clothes. She's still the same friend. Nothing has changed. So why are you behaving this way? Why are you rioting against her? She's not the enemy! President Snow is! The discrimination and unfair treatment by the Capitol—_that's _the enemy! Not this fifteen-year-old girl. Don't judge her by her parentage. She's helped us a great deal, and she doesn't deserve it."

The silence of the Main Hall was restored once more. Finally, Heavensbee lifted the megaphone to his lips and spoke once more.

"Now that that's all settled, we need to focus on the _real_ importance of the message we just received. President Snow's forces will be here in two weeks. We have a choice to make, Mockingjays. The President has offered us an alternative. Are we going to surrender, go back to cruel government, and sacrifice twice as many children to the steely grip of the Hunger Games?"

The crowd's answer was immediate. "NO!"

"Or are we going fight for the justice we deserve?"

"YES!" they chanted. The crowd clapped and hooted and cheered.

Aliss couldn't help but smile in amazement. She felt little bubbles of hope flowing through her body. They could do this! The Mockingjays could win!

Plutarch Heavensbee waved his hand for silence. The noise slowly died down. "We will formulate a game plan," he said. "And when the President's troops come, we will be ready! We. Will. Win!"

The crowd was ecstatic. Heavensbee waved and smiled, then turned and ushered them all off the platform and into a small tunnel below it, a tunnel that Aliss had never known about. She looked at Cecil for reassurance. He was looking straight ahead, indifferent. She was relieved. He'd been here before.

The tunnel opened into a little room with a big wooden table and several chairs. A conference room. Conspicuously, Aliss glanced around. Besides her, Cecil, Arroe, Jobee, and Evan, in the room there was Plutarch Heavensbee, Haymitch Abernathy, Finnick Odair, Katniss Everdeen, Gale Hawthorne and a man with large glasses that she'd never met before, but she knew him to be Beetee Clocque, one of the Hunger Games winners from District 3. To her surprise, he was in a wheelchair. They all sat down, Aliss and Evan a bit uncertainly. They shared a look, and then she turned to Cecil. She raised her eyebrows, silently asking the question: _Am I supposed to be here?_ He met her gaze and nodded, just enough for Evan and Aliss to see. Reassured, they settled and waited for Heavensbee to speak.

"We all knew this day was coming. I'm surprised it didn't come sooner. We need to be prepared," he began. He turned to Beetee. "I need the tech department to be on their toes. Be on the lookout for any foreign object in District 13. I don't care what it is, but make sure you report it to me immediately. Also keep in close contact with our spies in the other Districts. We'll need as much information as we can get." Beetee nodded and wheeled out of the room.

Heavensbee then turned to Aliss. "You are in quite the predicament. You will have someone you can trust with you at all times. Their attention is diverted from you at the moment, but sooner or later someone's going to try to hurt you."

Aliss shook her head. "But they're right. Peeta and Annie could be a lot more help than me. Maybe, if you offer me up you could make a trade or something, I could trick the President and give him false information. I could get him to trust me. It wouldn't be hard. You guys could have a bigger chance at winning."

The group's reaction was totally unexpected.

Arroe said: "No, Aliss, that's completely out of the question!"

Evan said: "Over my dead body!"

Jobee scoffed loudly.

Katniss was still in her seat.

Finnick glowed with admiration.

Haymitch raised both his eyebrows.

Gale was impassive.

Heavensbee did nothing.

But Cecil's reaction was the most noticed. He slammed his fist on the table, silencing Evan and Arroe's complaints and stood up. "Are you _insane_?" he shouted, though he only a seat away from Aliss. "You're not going back there! You'll get yourself killed!"

Aliss stood up too. Cecil still towered over her, and she was very aware of the heat of his rage. But she was angry herself. "You can't tell me what I can and can't do!"

"I can if it results in your death!"

"I'm not going to die!"

"You have no way of knowing!"

"You're right, I don't! But it doesn't matter! It's still not for you to decide, or Katniss, or Plutarch Heavensbee, or Haymitch to decide either! It's my choice! Nobody else's! You said it yourself!" Aliss yelled, practically standing on her toes to reach her full height. Even then, Cecil was a whole head taller than her, and he was looming, so he wasn't standing as tall as he could. Still, her quote made him reel backward as if she'd slapped him in the face. He blinked and composed himself, his face becoming a dangerous emotionless mask. Without a sound, he walked out of the room. Arroe and Evan quietly followed him, their heads bent in defeat. Trembling, Aliss turned back to her audience and plopped back down into the chair, gripping the edge of the table. They let her calm down before they continued.

"Well, Aliss," Heavensbee said. "Cecil does have a point. You need to see reason before you decide. Think about it: if you do go back to the Capitol, the President is likely to torture the truth out of you. Gaining the President's trust is a hard thing to do, I should know. And I don't think he would believe that his daughter who hates him will suddenly love him after staying three months in a facility with the people she admires most. We must remember that President Snow may be cruel, but he is not an idiot. And frankly, I highly doubt we will see Peeta and Annie whether we turn you in or not."

Katniss and Finnick noticeably stiffened.

"Are you saying that you think they're dead?" Finnick challenged.

"No, I don't think that. I'm saying the only chances we have at seeing them again are if we rescue them ourselves or if we surrender. And since the latter is obviously not going to happen..." Heavensbee explained calmly. The two Hunger Games tributes relaxed a fraction. Heavensbee continued. "I think that we should start planning for his attack."

Haymitch glanced at Aliss. "Snow, I think you can leave now. Gale, escort her out."

Aliss nodded, though she resented being called "Snow". She and Gale stood and left the room, feeling the pressure of Katniss's stare on their shoulders.

They walked in silence for some time. Aliss kept glancing over at Gale, only to look away hurriedly when he caught her. He had a lot of the same features as Katniss—olive skin, straight black hair, grey eyes. They could definitely be relatives, but Aliss knew that they weren't. That was a cover story designed by the Capitol to keep the audience of last year's Hunger Games thinking that Katniss was madly in love with Peeta. Having a handsome best friend of the opposite gender didn't exactly support that story. Everyone knew it was a ruse now, of course.

Unlike Katniss, Gale's eyes were impassive. Neverless, he was intimidating, so Aliss kept her mouth firmly shut.

They made it to the room. Gale raised a scarred hand and retreated down the hall. Aliss took a deep breath and entered her room, expecting a good scolding from Arroe. She didn't get one. Arroe was lying in bed staring at the ceiling.

"Did they tell you no?" she asked, not looking away from the ceiling.

"Yes. They said no," Aliss replied, sitting down on her bed and looking down at her fists.

Arroe shifted her head to assess Aliss. "Are you going to put it out of your mind?"

"Yes, I am. They made a good point," she lied. "The President won't give up Peeta or Annie or Johanna whether I go back or not. And he probably won't believe a single word I say. He'll torture me to get the truth. I'd be better use here, fighting."

"And you agree with them?"

Aliss shrugged. "They made a good point. Besides, how would I fight you tomorrow if I was packing to head to the Capitol?"

"You're fighting me tomorrow?" Arroe said skeptically, sitting up on her elbows.

"Yeah. And I'm going to win," Aliss challenged, winking.

"In your dreams!"

"Is that a yes?"

"Well duh!"

Aliss laughed, glad she could change the subject and overjoyed that she was forgiven. Arroe wouldn't suspect a thing.

* * *

The next day, Aliss stopped by the infirmary with Arroe on their way to the training area. She found Evan and gave him a long, heart-filled apology. Evan accepted it gracefully, for fear of another long speech. Madge snickered in the background.

_Two down; one to go_, Aliss thought as she walked in the lush grass of the training area, looking for Cecil. She didn't see him. Defeated, she made her way to Arroe, who was waiting for her in anticipation.

"Ready to fight?" she said.

"Are you?" Aliss replied.

They walked on separate sides of the field, quite a crowd surrounding them.

"Ready?" Arroe called. "Fight!"

They charged and met in the middle. Their blades _clank_ed together, and swiftly snapped apart, only to _clank! _again. Aliss ducked a blow and swooped under Arroe's arm, "slitting" her side as she did so. As Arroe swung around to retort, Aliss slammed into her, just hard enough to get her to fall. Arroe rolled to dodge the practice blade that swung down to meet her heart. She hopped up, dodged another thrust from Aliss, and retorted with her jab.

To the crowd the rest of the battle was a blur. Though it was quite difficult to see was happening, the crowd grew. Most were rooting for Arroe after the events that took place the day before, but there were a few that were faithful to Aliss and cheered for her.

The battle was half an hour long. Someone had noted that this was the longest anyone had ever stood against Arroe. The Arroe-followers glared at the person murderously. He wilted with shame.

Aliss swung under Arroe's arm once more. This time, she blocked Arroe's blade as it swung backward and she poked Arroe's back with the tip of her practice blade.

"Dead," she gasped.

Whether they had bet on Aliss or not, the crowd cheered. The thrill of such an important victory was enough to rouse even the most Anti-Capitol rebel present. Only when Arroe turned, smiled, and shook hands with her opponent did some of the cheering subside. Slowly the crowd drifted apart to either tell about the new best or to sulk in silence at the prospect of a relative of President Snow winning against a Mockingjay.

"Good job, Aliss!" Arroe said, hugging her friend.

"Yes, congratulations," said a voice behind them. Aliss turned to see Cecil.

"I'm going to go talk to Thistel for a sec," Arroe said slyly.

When she left, Aliss began. "Cecil, I'm sorry about yesterday. I—"

"Don't be," Cecil said, holding up a hand. "You were right. I don't have the authority to tell you what you can and cannot do, especially after I chewed Katniss out for trying to do the same. So, I'm the one who's sorry."

"Whoa," Jobee interrupted, walking over to them. "Did I seriously just here Cecil _apologizing_?"

Cecil winced. "Yes, now we're leaving it alone—"

"HEY THISTEL! ARROE!" Jobee boomed. "CECIL JUST APOLOGIZED!"

"NO KIDDING?" Arroe replied from across the field. "WOW! I NEVER THOUGHT I'D SEE THE DAY!"

"CECIL, ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE FEELING ALRIGHT?" Thistel shouted in mock concern.

Aliss laughed. "I take it he doesn't apologize often?"

"Never," Jobee answered. "Whatever he did must be pretty major. What _did _he do?"

"Nothing major," Aliss said vaguely.

"Did it have to do with yesterday?" he prodded.

"Yes."

Jobee's eyes focused behind Aliss and narrowed. She turned around and saw the dangerous form of Katniss Everdeen walking straight towards them, bow and arrow in hand. When she was within appropriate speaking distance, she stopped.

"Hi."

This simple word was so unexpected that Aliss nearly gawked. She composed herself in time to utter a similar greeting. It didn't really matter, though, because Katniss was already continuing.

"I wanted to apologize to you. I was rude and hateful towards you because of your parentage and my frustration over Peeta and that was unfair. After seeing how everyone reacted when they found out the truth, and hearing you volunteer to trade Peeta's life for your own, I realized how much of a jerk I've been. And I'm sorry." This was obviously practiced and Katniss said it in a bit of a rush, but Aliss was delighted either way.

"Thank you! And I accept your apology," she replied happily.

Katniss let her breath out in a _whoosh_. "Okay. Great. I also have something else to ask you..."

"What?"

"I saw what you did just now, defeating Arroe Widsbine and everything, and I was wondering if you could help me improve on my knife fighting," she requested.

"Sure, but on one condition," Aliss said.

"What?"

"You have to help me with my archery."

Katniss's mouth twitched. "It's a deal."

"Yes. A deal."

They shook hands.

* * *

**Another ultra-long chapter! **

**-Smurf ^^ **


	14. New Ideas

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: New Ideas

Aliss wiped spit off her boot while Arroe watched in disgust.

"I could have totally taken care of them for you."

Aliss sighed. "I don't doubt it. But I don't want to make them angrier than they already are."

It'd been three days since Aliss's victory, and most people were beginning to adjust to her new identity. There were a few that weren't as forgiving, however. Namely, Grettah and her husband, Butch. Grettah was the head chef in the kitchens, and Butch was, ironically, the butcher. Both were quite elderly, so they posed no threat to Aliss's well-being, therefore she refused to turn them in to Heavensbee. Besides, they had a good reason to hate her. At this moment, their Avox son was serving tea to the President.

Unfortunately, Butch chewed tobacco.

Aliss finished cleaning her shoe and put it on. She hung her belt on the tall lamp beside her bed.

"Will you take me to the training grounds, please?" she asked.

"Sure," Arroe grumbled, peeling herself off the bed she was splayed upon. Aliss rolled her eyes.

"For being so good at hand-to-hand combat, you sure are lazy," she teased.

"Yeah, whatever."

"Arroe, it's not a big deal. My shoe will survive," Aliss remarked as they left the room.

"It's not your shoe I'm worried about," Arroe replied numbly. "Have you _seen_ how big Butch is? His biceps are the size of my head!"

"Yeah, and he's also sixty-nine years old."

"Like that matters. A healthy seventy-year-old can still crush you like a bug."

"True," Aliss admitted. "But he has to catch me first. Besides, I have someone with me at all times, and he can't beat two people, even with Grettah's help. Relax, Arroe.  
I'll be fine."

"D'you ever stop to wonder if someone else is against you staying here, too?"

Aliss stopped walking. "No one's said anything to me. Has anyone said anything to you? Or do you mean you?"

"Of course I don't mean me! And nobody's said anything to me either, but you never know," Arroe said, shrugging.

"Does Thistel still hate me?" Aliss inquired, falling into step beside her roommate again. She hadn't seen Thistel in a while, since they were both busy with other things. Not that she ever saw Thistel a lot in the first place, but being Jobee's friend, she'd talked to her occasionally. Thistel never really had anything to say to her anyway.

"I don't think so," Arroe said. "I don't talk her very often anymore. She's so busy preparing for President Snow's attack with Heavensbee."

"What does she do?" Aliss pondered.

"I dunno," Arroe said. "I try to stay out of that sort of stuff."

"Oh."

By this time they had reached the training area. Arroe went off to the knife wielders. Although Aliss had defeated her, she remained the designated teacher, which suited everyone just fine. Aliss went over to the archery range, where Katniss was waiting. Over the past three days, they'd made an agreement. They would spend one day knife fighting, then one day shooting, and so on. They'd also developed some sort of bond, too weak and professional to be called acquaintanceship, much less friendship. But Katniss didn't hate her anymore, and that's all that mattered to Aliss.

As they shot or fought—whatever they were doing that particular day—they asked each other questions. Mainly about their lives before the rebellion, or in Katniss's case, the Hunger Games. Aliss became more and more livid with every story Katniss told. Life in the districts was even worse than she thought, and it was all her father's fault.

Today, as they shot, Katniss told about how she met Gale. It was obvious by the way she talked about him that Peeta was not her lover, no matter how she portrayed him in the Hunger Games. Her heart really belonged with her best friend, Gale.

_Then what's Peeta? _Aliss silently wondered. _Not her lover, so...just a friend? A close friend. A _really_ close friend. _

There was silence as they shot arrows. Katniss had long abandoned the simple bulls-eyes that Aliss used. She used the moving targets, and she hit every single one. Aliss was progressing under Katniss's instruction, and she could actually hit the middle of the bulls-eye occasionally.

Katniss sighed contently as she hit her last mark. She lowered her bow. "Aliss?"

"Yes?"

"Why does President Snow's breath smell like blood?"

Aliss stiffened. Katniss had told her about the President's visit to her house, but she didn't mention _that_. Not many people did. They couldn't account for the smell over that silly rose her father wore. She'd never told anyone the horrible truth, and she wasn't about to burden Katniss with it.

"I don't know," Aliss lied. "And I don't want to."

"Oh," Katniss said. They dropped the subject.

Aliss shot her last arrow for that day. "Do you want to get some lunch?"

"I can't," Katniss replied. "I have to attend a meeting with the others. Maybe next time."

"Yeah, maybe."

"Do you need me to walk you over to your friend?" Katniss asked, pointing to Cecil.

"No, I think I can get there safely. Thanks for the offer though," Aliss said.

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. I'll see you later then."

"Later."

She turned in her borrowed bow and stumbled towards the shooting range where Cecil was practicing. She watched her feet carefully, for the shooting range was in the very corner of the training grounds, where the floor had collapsed long before anyone had resided here and formed a little jumble of boulders and crevices in a bowl-like hole. It made for a terrible fall.

She reached the bottom of the bowl and looked around for Cecil. He wasn't where he was standing a minute ago, so she hobbled along the boulders, checking behind them and even inside crevices. She came back to the place where she started and her throat closed as realization dawned on her.

Cecil wasn't there.

_Calm down! _she commanded herself. _Just go to Arroe. She's here too, remember?_

Aliss began to scale the bowl.

A hand clamped down on her shoulder and slammed her to the ground. She caught her breath and looked up, seeing a wrinkled face with a hooked nose and beady black eyes, haloed by a shock of wispy white hair. Butch.

"Hey there, princess," he said, grinning with the thrill of opportunity. "You remember me?"

Aliss's eyes widened. She felt for her knives.

They weren't there. Her belt was in the room, hanging on a lamp. She never brought her belt to the training grounds. There was no need to, since Bruce gave out practice equipment.

Bruce!

She inhaled for a scream.

Butch pulled out a knife and placed the tip under her chin. "Don't even think about it."

Aliss clamped her mouth shut.

"Good girl," Butch continued. "Now get up."

She obeyed, the knife resting on the hollow of her throat the whole time. Butch removed the knife and wrapped his thick arm around her neck, trapping her in a headlock. She kicked and scratched and even tried to bite him, but Butch only tightened his grasp. She remembered the sensation of drowning in the sea. She decided that this was worse and much more humiliating before her vision was dotted with white spots and she blacked out.

* * *

Aliss woke in a small tunnel. She noticed a bundle of belts and buckles in a corner. _Probably storage for weapons...I can't be too far from the training grounds_, she thought drearily. She managed to get to her feet and began to stumble towards the little river of light that streamed from the exit.

The light was suddenly blocked by a figure. At first Aliss thought it was Jobee, but soon realized that it was Butch tugging Grettah along merrily. Aliss backed up until she hit the cold wall behind her. Grettah laughed with sick humor.

"I thought you were bluffing, Butch! But you really caught her," she said. She scowled at her captive. "Where is your little body guards now?"

"If you hurt me, they'll know who did it," Aliss warned.

The married couple guffawed. "Of course they will! But who's going to care, besides your buddies? Eventually even they'll get over your death. You're just a Capitolite, but we're Mockingjays. We'll be forgiven. Killing you is no different from killing the President himself, to us at least."

"K-kill?" Aliss stammered.

"Well of course! You didn't think we'd let you live after what your father did to our Borris, did you?" Grettah cooed.

"Look, I'm sorry about Borris, but I had nothing to do with that! I didn't even know—"

"Be quiet!" Butch thundered.

"Ever since we found out who you really were, we've been waiting, Miss Snow," Grettah babbled on. "We've been waiting for a chance to get at you, for a moment when your friends weren't around. And today, we got one."

Suddenly, Butch revealed a mighty ax from his back and swung it with incredible force. Aliss ducked and it hit the wall, showering her in minuscule rock chippings.

"You're going to pay for my Borris," Grettah said dreamily. "And you're going to pay slow and hard."

Butch charged at her. Aliss dodged his ax and kicked him in the shin. He staggered but remained standing. Grettah tried to stab her with a knife. She moved out of the way and grabbed her wrist. She had to dodge another blow from Butch before she could retrieve the blade. She tried again for Grettah, seeing as she was the weaker fighter. Aliss slammed into her, knocking her to the ground. Butch swooped down and hit Aliss's skull with the butt of his ax, too afraid of harming his wife to use the blade. Aliss rolled off of Grettah, clutching her head. She could feel warm, sticky blood oozing between her fingers. She quickly stood up, already beginning to feel light headed. Grettah hurled a meat clever at her. It hit the wall, inches from her head, and stuck there. Aliss grabbed it and yanked it out before ducking from Butch's ax again. The room lurched and Aliss nearly lost her footing. She chucked the meat clever as Grettah had done, since it was useless as a fighting blade. It sliced deep into Butch's shoulder and stuck there with black liquid spilling all around it. Butch growled and pulled it out with a nauseating slurping sound, though it was barely heard over his howling. He threw the wet knife to the ground in disgust and stomped on it, cracking the thin edge in two.

Grettah came up behind Aliss and pushed her to the ground. The room spun when she hit the floor. Butch came beside her and raised the ax. Aliss could tell he wasn't aiming for her head though. He was aiming for her arm. _They're going to torture me_, Aliss thought. She remembered the Peacekeeper doing the same thing, raising his machete for the kill. Evan wasn't here to save her this time. She was really going to die.

There was a click. Butch and Grettah snapped their heads towards the entrance of the tunnel. Then, Aliss heard the most wonderful voice in the world.

"If you make another move," Cecil said, dangerously calm, "I will shoot you without hesitation."

Butch's eyes flicked towards Aliss, but his blade didn't move.

"Set your ax on the ground next to your feet and put your hands behind your head," he commanded, still pointing the gun at them. "NOW!"

They complied.

"Go," Cecil ordered. "And if you touch her again, I will hunt you down and you won't have to worry about Heavensbee's punishment. Understand?"

Butch and Grettah nodded. Slowly, with Cecil's gun pointed at them at all times, the couple left the cave. Cecil lowered the gun and ran over to Aliss, who was sitting up.

"Are you okay?" he asked frantically, his hands brushing back her hair to search for the source of the blood.

"Yes, I believe so," she said, wincing when he touched her cut.

"Why didn't you have anyone with you?" he yelled accusingly.

"Katniss left, but I saw you in the shooting range so I just walked over to you, but when I got there you weren't there anymore and Butch was. He put me in a headlock and dragged me here," Aliss explained, too shaken to react to his tone. "How did you find me?"

"I was searching for you. Arroe said she hadn't seen you and Katniss said that she sent you to me. I heard Butch screaming in here," he said.

"I thought Katniss was in a meeting...?"

"She was," Cecil said simply, helping her up off the ground. When the room tilted, he caught her.

"How bad is my head?" Aliss asked, letting the previous subject drop.

"Not bad enough for the infirmary. I'll stop by the kitchens and get some ice for it. Later I'll go get some bandages from Prim," he said.

"The kitchens?" Aliss said shrilly, thinking of Grettah.

"Don't worry," Cecil said, looking down at her gently. "I won't let them bother you."

Aliss was reassured.

"Where's your belt?" Cecil inquired after a moment of silence.

"I left it in the room, like I always do before training."

"Bring it everywhere from now on."

"I thought you said they weren't going to bother me anymore?"

"Just in case."

"Oh" was all Aliss said.

They stopped by the kitchens and borrowed some ice in plastic wrapping. Aliss was aware of the many critical eyes of the cooks that wandered over her wearily, but she didn't react. Cecil placed the bag on top of her head like a hat when they received it.

"There," he said, half-smiling.

"You shouldn't pick on us short people," Aliss retorted, shifting the bag over her wound. "It's quite humiliating, you know."

"But amusing."

"I don't think so."

"I do."

Aliss rolled her eyes, and grimaced. "Ow."

"What?"

"It hurts to roll my eyes."

"Good. You do that too often."

"Hey!"

Chuckling, Cecil opened the door to the room Aliss shared with Arroe. She poked her head in calling for her roommate, but she was, surprisingly, not there.

"Huh," Cecil remarked as they walked inside. "She must still be at the training area. I'll wait here until she gets back."

"Okay."

Aliss sat down on her bed and curled up against the wall that it stood against. Cecil flopped down at the foot of the bed, staring at the ceiling.

She regarded him in silence for a moment before saying, "Your hair has gotten long."

"Yeah, I guess it has," he said, brushing the curls back from his eyes. "I need to cut it."

"Why?"

"It gets annoying when it's this long."

"Oh," Aliss said. "Well, I kind of like it long."

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

"Oh."

There was an awkward silence after that syllable. Cecil spotted her binder and grabbed it off the table.

"Drawn anything recently?" he asked, sitting up and unzipping the edge of the binder.

"Not too recently. But since you last looked at it in the hospital, yes," she answered, scooting over to look at the sketches with him. The first two pages were a mish-mash of scraps that she'd sketched on. There was an eye, a flower, a sword, and other small objects she'd thought were interesting enough to attempt. Cecil flipped through these quickly, having seen them already.

He got to the first full page, which was a drawing of Arroe battling an amateur fighter named Elliot. Arroe on one side, a smile on her face, her curls sloppily tied back with a piece of twine, her tall figure stretched forward for a blow. Elliot on the other side, his skin dark like Jobee's, a long black braid trailing behind him, his muscles rippling with power. In the middle, their knives clashed.

The next page was a drawing of Thistel and Jobee standing side by side, Jobee poking Thistel on the shoulder with huge grin on his face, Thistel turning away to hide her amused expression and her arms crossed in an attempt to look annoyed.

The third page was Evan and Madge, working over a patient concentrated expressions.

The fourth was a close up of Cecil's face. He was laughing. He looked up from the binder and raised an eyebrow, smirking, but said nothing.

When he got to the final page, the smirk slid into a small frown. Aliss gulped. The sketch was of a tall girl with curly brown hair that reached her shoulders, wearing tawny pants and a simple black shirt, a brown belt strapped around her waist and dragged down with weapons. Her hands were stuffed in her pockets, her shoulders bristled up. She scowled at you in mock anger, as if she was irritated at being sketched. Her hazel eyes were happy, though.

"You drew her," Cecil rasped. "You drew Dawn."

Aliss nodded slowly.

"How did you know what she looked like?"

"I just figured she looked a lot like you," Aliss lied, not wanting to get Cinna in trouble. "If you don't like it I can tear it out and burn it..."

"No!" Cecil exclaimed, looking up from the page. "I love it! Would you...would you mind if I kept it? I don't have any pictures of her or anything..."

"Sure," Aliss said, relieved. "Yeah, go ahead and take it."

He unsnapped the drawing from the binder's metal rings. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she said before adding, "I wish I could have met her."

"You would have liked her," Cecil agreed, handing her the binder. She set down the melted ice and took it from him, setting it in her lap and looking at it, studying the familiar scratches in the worn leather, fiddling with the zipper.

"Aliss."

She looked up and jumped slightly at his closeness before he kissed her.

Her initial reaction was surprise. When that subsided, her eyes fluttered closed—they had grown wide with shock—and she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, entwining her fingers in his hair. Electricity bounded between them wherever they touched. His hands tightened around her waist and he hoisted her onto his lap. They broke apart for a moment, their foreheads pressed together, their breathing fast and their hearts fluttering.

"If I'd known you'd react like this, I would have done this earlier," he said.

Then he kissed her again.

* * *

Much later they went to track down Arroe, who had not made an appearance for quite some time. They found her arguing with Thistel, but the latter stalked off before they could step in.

"What's going on?" Cecil asked. Aliss had a horrible feeling that whatever they were disagreeing about, it had to do with her.

"Heavensbee isn't going to punish Grettah and Butch!" Arroe explained angrily.

"_What_?" Cecil growled. "They were going to kill Aliss!"

"I know! But Thistel talked him out of it," Arroe said distastefully.

"Why would she do that?!"

"She said that they couldn't afford to lose them so soon before the battle," Arroe continued. "Aliss, I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault," Aliss replied bitterly.

Cecil wheeled around. "You! You are going to be with me, Arroe or Jobee at all times! No one else!"

"No," Aliss said stubbornly. "I need training from Katniss and she needs training from me. And I trust Evan too."

"Ugh, that's fine. But don't go off by yourself again, okay?"

"Okay," Aliss sighed.

"And keep your belt with you at all times," he added.

"Yes, mother."

"This isn't funny!" Cecil scolded.

"No, it's not. But I'm not going to make the same mistake twice," Aliss countered. "I'm not a child."

Neither he nor Arroe could say anything to challenge that.

* * *

As Aliss lay down in bed that night with Arroe slumbering away across the room, she thought at length. She couldn't wait long to ask Katniss, but she didn't want to leave yet. And what if Katniss didn't have a way? Or worse, what if she just flat out said no, ignored the urgency of rescuing Peeta and followed orders? Aliss swallowed her doubts and looked at Arroe's sleeping form. _No_, she thought._ I have to. Tomorrow at practice, I will. I'll ask. I'm going to the Capitol and rescuing Peeta and Annie and Johanna, no matter what anybody else says. I'm doing my part in this war. Protecting the ones I love. _

She fell into a restless sleep, sailing towards dreams of her friends' faces.

* * *

**Another chapter done! More than half way through...I'm almost sad *sniff* I don't know what I'm gonna do with my time after it's finished...Scratch that. I do know. **

**Write another story. **

**Because, if you haven't noticed, I have absolutely nothing better to do with my time. Which is better for you, since you don't have to wait for me to get off my lazy butt and write. Instead, I write while on my lazy butt. I'm being productive and lazy at the same time. It's a talent :)**

**There's nothing wrong with being lazy. I got a fortune cookie that once said, "Laziness is only rest before you are tired." **

**-Smurf ^^ **


	15. Escape Plans

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Escape Plans

"Are you sure this is going to work?"

"Yes. The plan's fool-proof. The only thing you need to worry about is not getting caught."

Aliss nodded. "Okay, Katniss. We'll do it."

They sat in the farthest corner of the cafeteria, out of earshot from everyone else present. Katniss was briefing Aliss on her plan. _The_ plan. No one knew about this plan except for these two that were discussing it. Tonight, Aliss and Katniss would sneak into the techie's headquarters and steal an airship that would take them to the Capitol. There Aliss would infiltrate the Capitol building, rescue the three hostages, and leave with them. It would take three days for them to get to the Capitol, and an equal amount of time to get back. In ten days, the President's army would arrive on District 13.

The only drawback to the plan was that everyone would notice Katniss's and Aliss's absence. Obviously someone would realize what they had left for and Heavensbee would alert all the Mockingjay spies in the Capitol area. This meant that they couldn't trust anyone, not even their allies.

They picked up their trays, gave them to the cooks, and left the cafeteria.

* * *

When Cecil saw Aliss enter the training grounds with Katniss, relief washed through him. Although Katniss and Aliss had a truce of sorts, he still didn't trust her after the episode in the infirmary. Hate that strong couldn't be cured overnight.

Katniss waved and retreated into the tunnel where they'd just arrived. Aliss walked over to him.

"How was lunch?" Cecil asked.

"Great," she cheerfully answered. "Their soup was really good today."

"That's good. Did Katniss have anything interesting to say?" he inquired.

"Not really." Aliss kept her face carefully composed into a smile. Her eyes portrayed nothing. She was perfectly still. _She's hiding something_, Cecil thought. _That's a perfect poker face. _

Quickly, she changed the subject. "Did you hear that District 4 was raided by the Peacekeepers?"

"No," Cecil said, throwing a knife. "I didn't. How bad was it this time?"

"Not as bad as the District 3 raid. Still terrible though," she said.

"They're getting closer," he said simply.

Aliss nodded. "They are getting closer."

"Are you fighting?" Cecil asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes."

"Me too."

"I know."

They looked at each other sadly. They weren't the only ones fighting. Arroe, Jobee, Evan, Thistel, even Cinna...everyone was. It was impossible for everyone to survive. Aliss turned away and stared at the ground. Cecil saw a tear drop from her eye and plop onto the grass. He put an arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead.

"We'll be okay," he lied.

She shook her head but said nothing and wiped her eyes. After a second she gently shrugged off his arm."I'm going to go see if Arroe needs help with her students."

Cecil nodded and watched her walk over to Arroe, who greeted her with a smile and directed a group of students over to her. He focused on his own work for several minutes before he noticed Katniss rushing, almost running, across the field to Aliss. She said something urgently and then they left. He remembered her carefully orchestrated poker face when he asked her about Katniss...

He put the knife in his belt and followed them quietly.

Their journey was short. They stopped at the closest empty tunnel available. Cecil followed them until he could hear their voices but he couldn't see them.

Katniss said: "There's a problem with the plan."

Aliss: "What is it?"

"Beetee caught me bribing the crew," Katniss said.

"What? Do you think he'll tell—"

"I don't know. He might."

"Then we have to wait!" Aliss said frantically.

"We can't! It takes too long to get there and get back. We want to get back before the battle, and who knows how long it'll take you to infiltrate the Capitol building," Katniss pointed out.

"We can't risk getting caught. We only have one chance."

"I'm sorry, Aliss. I'm going tonight, whether you come with me or not."

"You can't walk around the Capitol! Everyone knows your face."

"That's why I need you. But if you're not coming tonight, then it's a chance I'll have to take. Peeta is getting here before the Peacekeepers do."

There was a pause. Then Aliss sighed and said, "Okay, I'll go."

"Thank you! Peeta will—"

"Just remember that it's not just Peeta we're after. Johanna and Annie need our help too," Aliss interrupted.

"Of course."

Cecil retreated into the tunnel, his mind reeling. Aliss and Katniss were flying to the Capitol to rescue Peeta Mellark, Johanna Mason, and Annie Cresta...against Heavensbee's orders. Cecil silently cursed. _That's why she's been so weird lately!_ Should he tell Heavensbee...no, he wasn't going to do that. He had a feeling that they would find a way to do it anyway. No, he had a much, much better idea.

* * *

As soon as Arroe fell asleep, Aliss hopped out of bed and pulled on her boots, her coat, and her belt. After a moment of thought, she grabbed a slip of paper and wrote Arroe a note. By the time she read it, they'd be way into District 11 anyway. She signed it and left it on her bed, along with her binder. She'd wanted to take it, but she couldn't stand the idea of it getting lost on the trip. Besides, it was extra baggage. It's not like she'd actually get a chance to draw.

She slipped into the tunnel like a shadow. People were still bound to be awake, and if Beetee told Heavensbee anything then there would be guards everywhere. Creeping along the cool clay walls, she kept her ears and eyes alert. The walk to the tech department wasn't terribly long, but she still wanted to be careful.

When she was almost there, a figure leapt out of the shady corner and grabbed her. One arm snaked around her middle and her arms while the other stifled her scream. She did the only thing she could do: kick.

"Damn! Aliss, cut it out! It's me!" a voice whispered.

Aliss ceased immediately and wheeled around, prying her attacker's arms off of her. "_Cecil_! What are you doing?"

Cecil stepped into the fiery light cast but the lanterns that hung on the wall, rubbing his shin. "I heard you and Katniss talking earlier."

"Soo...you're here to stop me," Aliss said cautiously.

"No," he said, surprising her greatly. "I can't stop you. It's your choice to go."

She relaxed a fraction. "Then what are you doing here?"

"Just like it's your choice, it's my choice too. I'm coming with you," Cecil stated.

"You're...coming...with me," she said, testing the words out on her tongue. An unexplained happiness ran through her as she realized what they meant. But then a new angle came into view: Cecil's safety. If he came with her, he would be in extraordinary amounts of danger. Even more so than if fought against the Peacekeepers here. "Are you sure you want to come? You don't know any details..."

"I know enough to know that I want to go with you," he said fiercely. "And nothing you say can change my mind."

Reluctantly, Aliss nodded. "Come on, then. We're going to the tech department."

They carefully descended down the corridor, pressing themselves into the flickering shadows that clung to the walls.

_|::|_

When they got to the tech department, Katniss was quietly waiting outside the entrance tunnel. She scowled when she saw Cecil.

"What is he doing here?" she hissed.

"He heard us talking about the plan and he says he wants to come," Aliss whispered.

"He's only going to slow us down," Katniss warned.

"I'm coming with you," Cecil said sternly.

Katniss gritted her teeth and hesitantly nodded. "Fine."

They snuck down the tunnel, dodging doors and people along the way. Eventually they found the aircraft that they were stealing. It was bigger than Cecil anticipated, enough to comfortably fit five or six people. There were four aircrafts lined up in a row, each identical. They reminded him of the messenger craft in build, but they were a polished black and didn't have the red lights. There was also a long tinted window that wrapped around the front end. Three wheeled pegs kept the craft a yard or so off the ground and there was a ramp leading to the entrance on the bottom of the aircraft.

The three companions ran to the closest one and hopped aboard. Katniss automatically took pilot's seat and strapped in. She started the aircraft quickly. The ramp closed, and they were lifted off the ground, easing out of the chimney in the room that was just big enough for them to fit through. Then they were flying over the ruins of District 13, racing towards the Capitol.

Katniss sighed, relaxing in her seat. Cecil and Aliss stood behind her, looking down at the mountains and plains of ash. Cecil finally looked up and observed the aircraft. Under the widow there was a series of lights, buttons, switches, levers, meters, and gages. Four seats were lined up parallel to the window. Katniss sat in the first one, steering the craft. Along the sides there were clear plastic boxes that held parachutes, clean water, and food. In the back there was a door that Cecil assumed led to the bathroom, and a curtained off area.

"That was easier than I thought," Katniss said lightly. "I hope rescuing Peeta is this easy."

"How did you learn to fly this?" Aliss asked wistfully, not bothering to correct Katniss.

"Haymitch insisted that I learn. Finnick and Beetee too," Katniss replied.

"So will you be flying it for three straight days?" Aliss asked, concerned.

Katniss laughed. "No, there's an autopilot. But I don't want to use it for certain parts of the trip."

"Like what?" Cecil inquired.

"Like District's 13, 12, 11, 8, 4, and the Capitol," Katniss answered.

"Why District's 12 and 13?" Aliss asked. "There's not any Peacekeepers here...yet."

"The weather patterns are pretty spontaneous."

"Oh. Well, that's still a lot to drive through," Aliss said. "You should teach Cecil and me how to drive it."

"Yeah, it's pretty easy actually. I can if you want," Katniss said.

"It doesn't _look_ easy," Cecil remarked, gesturing under the window.

"You don't need to worry about that," Katniss explained. "All you need to worry about is the stuff within reach of the pilot..."

She explained the basics of driving the aircraft while Aliss and Cecil listened intently. After she was done, they all sat in silence, looking out the window. Finally, Aliss yawned. Katniss took notice.

"There are beds behind the curtain," she said. "You two go get some sleep. I'll let you know if anything interesting happens."

Nodding, Aliss and Cecil ducked behind the curtain. There were three single cots, each with a simple blue blanket and a pillow. Aliss walked towards the one on the left, and Cecil walked towards the middle one. He felt her grab his hand and tug him towards her. He looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Lay with me?" she mouthed.

He blinked, but obliged to her request. She snuggled beside him, burying her face in his chest. He stroked her fair hair.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," she whispered after a moment.

"S'Okay. I don't blame you after the way I reacted the first time you suggested it," Cecil said almost inaudibly.

"I would've reacted the same way," she said stubbornly.

"You didn't," he pointed out.

She unearthed her face. "That's different."

"How?"

"It just is."

"No, it's not. Just face it—you're more reasonable than I am," he mocked.

"Am not."

"Are too."

She stuck her tongue out at him. He silently chuckled. "For being so tiny you sure are ferocious."

Aliss smirked and stretched to kiss him. He responded by pulling her closer. Her hands were tiny fists, clutching his shirt. He felt her leg hitch around his hips. He went to roll over, but instead of mattress he felt empty space. He groaned. "This bed really needs to be bigger."

Aliss laughed quietly and snuggled back against his chest. "We should go to sleep."

"What? That's just cruel," Cecil muttered. He felt her snicker again. He settled down next to her, taking in the floral scent of her hair. Within seconds, they were both asleep.

* * *

**Fifteen friggin chapters! Holy crap! When I started writing this, I didn't think it'd be THAT long. Wow. I'm gonna be so sad when the story ends. :'( Sorry about the constant switching between Aliss and Cecil. It made the story more interesting though, didn't it? Didn't it? :) **

**And to answer a question in the reviews, the name "Aliss" sounds like "Alice". I just thought the other spelling was cooler and more unique. **

**-Smurf ^^ **


	16. Change of Plans

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Change of Plans

The day started in complete normalcy. Evan woke up—Cecil was already gone, as usual—got dressed, and walked down to the infirmary. There he began to help Madge take care of the patients. Aliss would sometimes stop by to say hello before she headed to the training grounds, but it wasn't uncommon for her not to, especially with the battle so close. In ten days, everyone would be fighting for their lives, even Evan. He probably should have trained too, but he just couldn't bring himself to leave the infirmary...or Madge. He'd grown quite fond of her over the past couple weeks. Too fond for friendship, but not fond enough to tell her how he felt.

When Arroe burst through the doors of the infirmary in a near panic-attack, Evan knew something was wrong. She stormed down the aisles of beds clutching a crumpled piece of paper in one fist. Before he could say anything, she stuck the slip of paper in his face angrily.

"READ IT!"

Evan took the note from Arroe's hands and read:

_Arroe, _

_When you wake up, you'll see this note on my empty bed. Don't worry, I left of my own accord. Katniss and I are going on a freelance mission. We'll be back before the battle, or we won't be back at all. I'm sorry to leave you this way, but I knew that if I told you what was going on I wouldn't be able to go at all. Please show this note to Cecil, Evan, and Jobee. No one else. Please be careful. _

_Aliss _

"What does that mean?" Evan said, re-reading the note. It was definitely her tiny, curly handwriting. She and Katniss were going on a mission...

"It _means _that she snuck out with Katniss to rescue the hostages at the Capitol!" Arroe said, knotting her hands in her tangle of red hair. "They stole an aircraft from the techies last night! And Cecil's gone too!"

"Arroe, calm down. We can—"

"Calm down! CALM DOWN! I can't calm down! Aliss and Cecil are _gone_!" she said miserably.

Linda came in and saw Arroe's state. "Arroe? What's wrong?"

Arroe stood straight. "Nothing. I'm just...it's nothing."

"Are you sure?" Linda inquired. "Evan, what's going on?"

"Arroe," Evan said, turning to her. "Surely she didn't mean Linda. We can tell her."

"Tell me what?" Linda said.

Evan handed her the note. As she read it, her eyes got wider and her hands gripped the paper harder. She looked up from it, glanced at Arroe and Evan, and marched towards the door. Arroe and Evan looked at each other, stared after Linda, and followed her frantically.

"Linda! Linda, where are you going?" Arroe said, jogging beside Linda.

"I'm going to Plutarch. He needs to know about this," Linda said.

"What? You can't do that!" Evan said. "It says—"

"I don't care what it says! Katniss and Aliss are in serious danger!" Linda snapped, turning into the tunnel. "If we tell Plutarch now, maybe he can send an aircraft after them before they get too far."

"But they didn't go on foot. They took one of the fastest aircrafts here," Arroe pointed out.

Linda wheeled around and glared at them. "Then telling Plutarch shouldn't be a problem." With that said, she continued to march towards the Heavensbee's office, Arroe and Evan following her in defeat.

* * *

As it turned out, Heavensbee did send someone after them. It took one full day of pacing and anxiety, but eventually the pilot came back empty handed.

"I flew through Districts 12 and 13, but there was no sign of them," he told Heavensbee.

"Very well," Heavensbee said, dismissing the pilot. He turned to the rest of them who were waiting at the conference table. This included Haymitch Abernathy, Finnick Odair, Beetee Clocque, Thistel, Jobee, Linda, Arroe, and Evan. "Beetee, go inform the spies in the other districts that there is an unauthorized mission going on. Tell them that if Katniss Everdeen stops by for supplies or information to send us a message immediately and to keep her and her colleagues there until we arrive. Also, if she is injured or being followed attend to her needs."

Beetee nodded, causing his glasses to slip down his nose, and wheeled out of the room.

"Isn't there a tracker or something on the aircraft they took?" Finnick suggested after a thought.

"There is, but they dismantled the thing," Haymitch said gruffly.

Heavensbee nodded. "Our only hope of catching them before they conduct their operation is if they seek the help of a spy."

"Katniss isn't that stupid," Haymitch pointed out. "Unless they have a serious problem, she's not going anywhere near any of our contacts. Even then, she might find help somewhere else. She's got tunnel vision, and right now all she sees is Peeta."

"So there's _nothing _we can do?" Evan exclaimed.

"I'm afraid not," Heavensbee answered. "We'll have to wait for them to slip up, or we'll have to wait for them to return from their mission. I desperately hope we find them before then. The chances of them carrying this out successfully are slim. Very slim."

"What happens if they don't carry it out successfully?" Arroe murmured.

"If their plan doesn't work," Heavensbee said solemnly, "then they're not getting out of there alive. I'm sorry."

Arroe burst into tears.

* * *

Later in the infirmary, Evan told Madge everything. He figured that she had a right to know, since she was one of Katniss's best friends.

"Why would they do that?" she whispered after he was done. "Why would they betray us like that?"

"They didn't really betray us..." Evan said uncomfortably.

"But they did!" Madge insisted. "They told us nothing! They ran away without a thought! They threw caution to the wind and decided to risk their lives on a mission they probably can't even complete!"

"But isn't that kind of what we're doing?" Evan pondered. "By rebelling, I mean."

"No, that's completely different._ We _actually stand a chance at winning this war!" Madge said passionately, hopping off the cot and pacing around the room. "If everyone keeps up their morale, that is. That's why Katniss can't go. She's the hero of this story, and if she...doesn't make it back from this mission, then not only would she be gone but everyone's hopes would be gone too. If the President can kill the invincible, then we don't stand a chance."

"You're not upset about that, Madge. You're upset because you think she's going to die," Evan said bluntly.

Madge froze. She plopped back down on the cot and put her head in her hands. "You're right. Aren't you upset too? That Aliss is going to die on this stupid mission?"

"No," Evan said truthfully. "Because I don't think she will. And this mission isn't stupid. They're saving three lives, maybe more."

"You think they'll make it back alive?" Madge breathed.

"I hope so. I know that they'll do everything they can to make it back here alive, and with the hostages. Aliss isn't the kind to go down without a fight."

"Yeah, Katniss isn't either."

"Or Cecil."

"Definitely not Cecil," Madge agreed. "It must be nice knowing that there's someone there to protect her. Aliss, I mean. There's nobody there for Katniss."

"Katniss doesn't strike me as the kind who needs protection," Evan remarked.

"No, not from other people," Madge murmured. "But from herself...I think she does. At least here Gale and Haymitch were keeping her from tearing herself apart. She blames herself for Peeta's capture. That's one reason she wants to rescue him so badly."

"What's the other reason?"

"I don't know. There's something going on between those two, something that I can't really explain," she answered. "Maybe it's the bond of surviving the Hunger Games, or maybe it's something even deeper. Whatever it is, I hope she figures it out soon."

"Katniss has protection," Evan said after a moment. "Aliss will catch her if she falls."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

* * *

Heavensbee called a conference that afternoon. After he was done explaining the situation, the Mockingjays basically uproared. Their champion was gone, and was probably not coming back. How does one deal with that? The order that Heavensbee had established over the past year completely crumbled in that one announcement. Even the loud echo of his megaphone couldn't tame the chaos.

In the end, it was Finnick who got everyone's attention.

He grabbed the megaphone out of Heavensbee's hand. "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?"

The silence that followed was so profound it was somehow even scarier that if they had continued to riot. Finnick stood his ground. With every pair of eyes trained on him in expectation, he lifted the megaphone to his lips once more.

"Don't you see how idiotic you're being? So what, they went to rescue the hostages? Would it have made any difference if we had authorized it?" he continued. "Yes, you know it would. You're so used to being controlled and told what to do that you don't know freedom when you see it. Am I saying that everyone should hop on an aircraft and go to the Capitol? No, I'm not. But you're upset because those three broke the rules and did what they thought was right. Isn't that what we're doing right now, breaking the President's rules because we think it's right? Because we don't think that people should parish? If you're angry now, then what makes you any different from a Capitolite? If I had the chance, I would have gone with them. To save people who don't deserve to die."

He shoved the megaphone back into Heavensbee's hands. Evan and Madge were close enough to the platform to hear what his next words to Heavensbee were.

"You should have let them go in the first place," he said through his teeth. He stormed off the platform, the heaviness of his speech hanging in the air.

* * *

The next morning, the air was lighter somehow. Everyone was smiling, laughing, chatting. Evan was completely lost. He wasn't sure if there was a reason for this sudden joyful mood, but he was sure to find out soon.

The infirmary was equally exuberant. This was expected, but Heavensbee standing in the middle of the room talking to Linda was not. Evan didn't have time to dwell on this, because Heavensbee bounded out of the room in a jolly manner. Evan stared after him in confusion.

"What's going on?" he asked to no one in particular.

It was Linda who answered. "Heavensbee has an idea. A very, very magnificent idea."

"What is it?"

"I can't tell you," Linda replied. "You'll have to wait until the conference."

After Linda has scurried away, Evan walked over to Madge. "Do you know what the big news is?"

"Unfortunately no," Madge sighed. "Mrs. Everdeen refuses to tell me. She just said to think about what Finnick Odair said yesterday, but I haven't a clue what she means."

Evan toiled over this for quite some time, but couldn't figure out what it meant either. Finally someone came into the infirmary to alert them about a conference. They walked to the Main Hall, leaving Linda behind to watch the patients, discussing possibilities of what this awesome plan was. They came up with nothing, so they quietly waited for Heavensbee to speak.

"MOCKINGJAYS!" he boomed. "MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE!"

The voices were silenced.

"Yesterday, Finnick Odair made a speech. In his speech, he mentioned something that sent my mind into overdrive. I have conversed with the council all night, and finally we have come up with a plan. A new plan, a plan that will guarantee our victory in the battle coming up. I think it's only fair that Finnick himself explains." He handed the megaphone to Finnick and he began speaking.

"Heavensbee came to me with an insane idea inspired by my speech yesterday evening. In this speech I had said, 'Am I saying that everyone should hop on an aircraft and go to the Capitol? No, I'm not.' At the time, I was thinking about everyone rescuing the hostages. But, what if we did all hop on aircrafts and go to the Capitol? Not to rescue anyone, but to attack! We would take them by total surprise, and half of their Peacekeepers would be here expecting us! We could win!" Finnick said.

People thought. There was mutterings, agreements, protests, ect. People asked questions, and those questions were answered.

"What about the nuclear weapons?"

"There is one or two aircrafts that are large enough to hold them, so we can use them in battle if necessary."

"How long would it take us?"

"With the aircrafts we have, only about a week or so."

"But then wouldn't the President know we were coming?"

"Yes, but most of his forces would still be here."

"What if we run into those forces on our way?"

"We have technology that prevents that. In fact, we have technology that might even prevent people in passing districts to notice us."

Evan raised his hand for a question. Madge glanced at him in mild curiosity, but didn't comment.

"Yes, Evan Summers?" Thistel, who was answering the questions, noted.

"What about Katniss, Aliss, and Cecil? They don't know about this plan, so what will happen to them?"

"Well, they have surely arrived at the Capitol by now, it's been three days. If they are still at the Capitol when we attack then they are sure to catch on quickly. If they are on their way back then our radars will detect them and we will notify them of the change in lineup."

Thistel left out the third option: if they were captured and killed in the Capitol, we won't have to worry about them at all. But of course she wouldn't say that. It was just wrong. She continued with the next and final question.

"When are we leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning, as a matter of fact. Unless anyone has anymore questions, I suggest that you all begin packing."

The current of people carried them towards the exits without issue. Evan caught Madge's hand so they wouldn't be separated in the confusion.

"Can you believe it?" Madge said in awe. "We're actually going to the Capitol!"

"Yeah, to attack the city," Evan muttered.

"That's true..." Madge said.

Evan couldn't help but feel resentful towards this new plan. These nuclear bombs that they were unleashing on this beautiful city...they would destroy it. They would kill thousands of innocent people. Ignorant, yes, even utterly brainless in some cases, but innocent all the same.

Isn't that what they were against?

* * *

**This is my first Evan chapter in a while. It's not really that I don't like writing in his point of view or anything, his story just isn't as interesting as the other characters', and I can't drastically change the plot at this point since the story's almost over. I've done that a few times. For instance, Aliss was originally going to end up with Evan, but then I decided that I liked Cecil and Aliss better, so I changed that. Also, Katniss and Aliss weren't going to interact in this story at all except when Aliss realized Katniss hated her. I changed that too, because I wanted them to go after Peeta and Annie (and Johanna, but if you haven't noticed, no one's really too worried about her. She was actually one of my favorite characters in _Catching Fire_). The rest of the story's kind of set in stone now, but I don't want to give anything away, so I'm just going to stop talking (or typing, I guess) now. :) **

**-Smurf ^^ **


	17. The Fall

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: The Fall

Three days passed slowly. Katniss let Cecil and Aliss fly the aircraft themselves for periods of time while she rested or ate. She had only packed for two people, so they wouldn't have enough food for the return trip. They would have to steal some before they left the Capitol.

Aliss now desperately wished that she had brought her binder. She'd forgotten how much she missed the outside world, and longed to draw everything she saw out the window. With each District they flew over there was a completely different scene. District 12 was just as broken as 13. Katniss's pain was visible on her face. District 11 held neatly plowed fields and trees heavy with fruit, while District 8 was ridden with textile factories, and then there was District 4, with its vast expanse of sandy beaches and blue-green oceans.

On the second day, when they were flying over District 7, speckled with pine trees, they saw the President's army. The huge leading aircraft suddenly leaped from the clouds, ominous in its size and splendor. Katniss cursed and practically shoved Cecil from the pilot's seat. She began pressing buttons, pulling levers, checking meters. The aircraft lurched upwards, making Aliss's ears pop noisily.

"Katniss, is that...?" Aliss whispered. She didn't know why she felt the need to whisper, but it seemed like one of those times.

"Yes. Now shhh."

The watched the army fly under them. Six aircrafts, each twenty times the size of the one they borrowed, drifted in agonizing sluggishness. Katniss didn't dare speed away, fearing the high-tech radars and detectors on these other ships. The silence was that of before a storm. Cecil and Aliss pressed their faces onto the glass, eyeing the enemy nervously.

The storm came. A missile shot from the very last aircraft, twirling towards them with frightening speed.

"KATNISS!" Aliss screamed, right before the aircraft tip sideways, knocking her backwards. The window in front of her blossomed with flame. She fell to the ground. The windows condensed as they fell into a cloud. Katniss cursed again. The aircraft spun, and Aliss spun with it. She hit a wall. Hard. She tried to stand up but a lurch brought her back to the floor again. There was another swerve, a whistle, and then splinters of glass rained down on them along with wave of heat. Another missile had been fired, and this one had made contact. Wind buffeted them harshly. Katniss frantically tried to regain control of the aircraft, tossing her passengers around as she did so. Aliss screamed again when she was jerked towards the exposed sky. Suddenly Cecil's arms were around her and pulled her to him. She grasped the bar he was holding. She found that she was panting. Cecil was too. It was getting harder to breathe, as if there wasn't enough oxygen in the air. And there wasn't. They were too high above the ground.

They wouldn't have to worry about that for too long, though. The aircraft was spiraling down towards the plentiful forests of District 7. Soon they would hit the ground, and they wouldn't have to worry about anything anymore.

"HOLD ON!" Katniss called. Aliss grasped both the bar and Cecil tighter before the wind blew so hard it peeled away her skin and she skidded across the broken glass that littered the floor. She rammed into the bar, then into Cecil, then the wall. Then, there was only the fierce wind blowing in her face. It was over. They were safe...enough.

"Everyone alive?" Katniss called.

"Yeah, we're both fine," Cecil said, helping Aliss off the ground. "Well, sort of."

They were bruised and cut and covered in glittering shards of the window, but other than that they were unscathed. The whole aircraft was a wreck. One side window was charred and blackened, and the other side was shattered. Luckily the front window escaped damage.

"You guys need to cover that window somehow," Katniss instructed. "We're close enough to the ground to breathe right now, and now that we passed the dangerous part we shouldn't need to go higher."

Cecil and Aliss grabbed blankets and did the best they could to seal the shattered window.

"It's not air tight, but it'll hold," Aliss decided.

Katniss said nothing.

Aliss looked at Cecil. He was staring at her intensely. Aliss's eyebrows creased. "Cecil...?"

"Katniss," he said. "We need to tell someone."

"What are you talking about?" Aliss questioned, her voice raising an octave.

Cecil looked at her. "That was the President's army."

"Yeah, so?"

"So, we're in District 7. They shouldn't be that close."

"Everyone thinks they'll be coming in nine days..." Aliss began.

"But they'll be there by tomorrow," Cecil confirmed. He looked at Katniss again. "Katniss, we need to tell someone about this."

"If we tell a spy they'll keep us and we won't make it to the Capitol," Katniss said calmly.

"If we don't tell someone we'll lose this battle, Katniss!"

"If we do than Peeta will DIE!" Katniss screamed hysterically. "The President will_ kill _him."

"He'll die if we lose that battle, and so will a lot of the Mockingjays!" Aliss said. "Cinna, Madge, your mother, Gale...they'll all die too, Katniss. Prim, she will die."

A sob ripped through Katniss. Her hands gripped the controls tightly. Her shoulders shook violently. Aliss took a step towards her.

"Katniss," she said. "We need to tell someone. I promise that when we do we'll do our best to escape and get back to our mission. Okay?"

Hesitantly, Katniss nodded. The aircraft slowly began to descend downwards.

"I'll take the controls, Katniss," Cecil said. "You go get some rest."

She handed over the controls and ducked behind the tattered curtain. Cecil and Aliss politely ignored the sobs coming from the other side.

"Where are we going?" Aliss whispered.

"To our contact in District 7," Cecil explained. "His name's Symin. He'll contact the main headquarters so they can prepare for battle and hopefully try to repair our airship. Then we'll escape and continue our mission."

"You make it sound so easy."

"Because I'm not giving the specifics. And there is bound to be some kind of obstacle we don't know about. The missiles that were just fired at us, for instance. I wasn't expecting those."

"Yeah, me either," Aliss scoffed. "...Do you think that the spy will believe us?"

"Yes. The damage to our ship is proof," Cecil pointed out.

"That's true...Do you think they'll be ready?"

"Yes, Aliss. They've been training for this battle for a long time, longer than you even got here. Longer than you were born, for some people. They'll be fine."

Aliss watched the forest as it approached. Cecil didn't want to land in the village for the obvious reason, but it would also be dangerous for them to land in the restricted area. He managed to lower them into a recently used lumber plot. The smoldering ground was still hot through Aliss's boots as she hopped off the aircraft. Cecil and Katniss followed her cautiously.

"Which way is your contact's home?" Aliss stopped to ask.

Cecil pointed, and they began walking in silence.

* * *

Symin was a low-rank Peacekeeper who lived in a solid log cabin with an inviting stream of smoke puffing through the chimney and a steady glow pulsing from the window. His house was relatively secluded in a circle of thick, tall pine trees that were dusted with frost. Aliss hadn't realized how much time had passed since she'd been captured. It was mid-summer then, and early winter now. She'd always known it got cold and snowed in winter, but she'd never felt the sharp pinch of bitter winter wind on her skin, or the calm grace of frost on a windowpane. She decided that winter was her favorite season.

Cecil tapped on Symin's window quietly and retreated into darkness. They waited for a while. Aliss was sure that Symin hadn't heard and was about to suggest that Cecil go try again when the heavy wooden door opened. A fat man with ruddy cheeks and beady eyes that were swallowed in the folds of his face stepped out of the cabin.

"All I'm sayin' is that you ought to be watchin' your back," the man boomed, marching out of the cabin. "Strange things have been goin' on recently, on both sides. I 'spect there's a brawl brewin', an' I don't wanna be the one caught in the middle."

"Thank you for your concern, Hernandes," a husky voice replied. "But I assure you that I am one hundred percent safe. The President will protect us, so long as we're loyal to him."

"You say that now, but when it comes time to fight, it'll be us dodgin' bullets, not the dear old President," Hernandes said savagely. "Just you wait! Just. You. Wait!"

"Goodbye, Hernandes," Symin said, firmly shutting the door. Hernandes staggered away. Aliss suspected he was drunk. No person in their right mind would criticize the President so openly. Then again, who knew what kind of mind Hernandes was in? Certainly not right.

They waited in the cold until the uneven crunch of Hernandes's footsteps were out of earshot. And still, they waited. Aliss huffed and watched as her frozen breath became a spectral cloud and drifted apart into nothingness once more. She took a deep breath and sighed again, watching this wonder. She repeated this action several times, until she caught Cecil's amused eye and stopped.

Finally, the window under which they were squatting opened a tiny crack. Symin's gravelly voice issued out from it in whispers.

"Who are you?"

"Katniss, Cecil, and Aliss," Katniss said, holding out the cracker with the mockingjay on it.

"Okay. Why are you here?"

"It's a long story," Katniss said.

"Come in through the cellar as quietly as you can." Symin closed the window, causing collapsed frost to bite their eyes.

They crawled around the house until they located the doors to the cellar. Then, one by one, they jumped into the dark earthen hole, Katniss shutting the heavy wooden doors behind her. They stood still in pitch blackness for a time. Aliss smelled the sharp odor of salted meats and vegetables along with the subtler scents of pine, earth, and mildew. But at least it was warmer than outside.

They heard Symin slowly descend down the stairs. He flipped the light switch, basking them in the light of the naked bulb in the center of the ceiling. Hanging all around it were salted foods, animal skins, canned fruit, and jars of pickled..._something _that sat on shelves. Symin himself was a tall wiry man with pale skin and light brown hair. He had a wide face with simple features, none of them betraying whether he was kind or cruel. It was a blank, stupid face. It matched perfectly with the Capitol loyalist act he'd given to Hernandes.

"Katniss," he greeted, shaking her hand. "You must be Cecil and Aliss," he added, doing the same. "Are you hungry? Thirsty?"

"Yes, that'd be great," Katniss said. Symin opened some canned peaches and a poured them glasses of hot chocolate from a kettle he brought down with him.

"So," Symin said as they were eating. "You have to tell me why you're here. Heavensbee contacted me and told me that you were going to the Capitol..."

They explained their random appearance, beginning with their theft of the aircraft. When they got to the important part, the part they'd actually risked their mission for, they paused.

"Symin, this is what we really came here for," Katniss said solemnly, pushing away her empty bowl. "We ran into the army here, in District 7. They'll be in District 13 by tomorrow evening. If you don't alert Heavensbee, then they'll be ambushed and they won't stand a chance against the army."

Symin nodded. "Of course. I'll alert them right now."

He got up off the floor and walked over to two wooden crates stacked on top of each other. He snapped the wooden shell off of the crates, revealing a bluish metal box just about the size of those crates. He dropped the shell and began working with the array of buttons and knobs located all over the box. A series of tiny beeps protruded from a speaker in the center. He stopped and waited for a moment. From a slot on the side came a sheet of paper. He set the paper down and replaced the wooden shell, cleverly camouflaging the contraption.

"Their reply," he explained, handing Katniss the paper. Aliss and Cecil peered over her shoulder, and read:

_Affirmative. Heavensbee been alerted. Keep childs. _

"Keep childs?" Katniss asked.

"Yes, Katniss. Unfortunately I have to keep you here with me until the battle's over and someone can come retrieve you," Symin said in a passive-aggressive manner. "I'm very sorry, but it's orders. I have to obey them. You understand, right?"

Katniss smiled genuinely. "Of course I understand, Symin."

"Good," Symin said, relaxing a fraction. "Now, you'll have to stay down here just in case someone gets suspicious—"

Suddenly, Katniss launched herself at him. They fell, rolling on the ground. Cecil and Aliss were stunned for a moment, but soon snapped out of it. Cecil grabbed Symin's arms, yanking them behind him. Aliss grabbed a knife from her belt and pushed it under Symin's chin, just hard enough to draw little droplets of blood. Symin stopped struggling, his eyes widened. Even Katniss seemed surprised.

"Katniss, get a chair and some rope," Aliss commanded. Katniss ran upstairs from the cellar to get a small wooden chair, and cut some rope from a hanging steak. Cecil led Symin to the chair and they tied his arms around the back of it. Katniss cut more salted food from the ceiling and tied his legs to the chair. The knots were loose enough that he would escape after some time, but by the time he did they would already be gone. They gagged him, though he made no sound.

"I'm so sorry, Symin," Katniss apologized. "But this is _really _important. I've got to save Peeta." They grabbed some food, water, and blankets from the cellar and disappeared into the cold December night.

* * *

Aliss snuggled close to Cecil, not for intimacy, but for warmth. With three heavy blankets piled on top of them, in the farthest corner of the ship away from the shattered window, they were both still shivering. It was impossible to sleep with the wind constantly blowing frigid air at them. Aliss felt really bad for Katniss, who insisted on piloting the aircraft. She had two blankets, and was right in the path of the wind. The blankets that they'd used to cover the window weren't doing much to help, and Katniss couldn't see on either side of her, for the other window was scorched.

Besides the cold, they were also running low on fuel. Most of the stored fuel fell out of the gaping hole on the side of the ship like Aliss almost did. Katniss anticipated that they would have enough to get to the Capitol, but they would have to get fuel while they were there. Aliss suggested that they just get a different aircraft. Only a desperate person would use this one.

Katniss was desperate. This became more and more apparent as they got closer to the Capitol. She was constantly insisting that she pilot, checking the fuel, reviewing the plan with them over and over and over again. By the fifth time she said, "Okay, I just want to make sure we get this right. Let's go over this again." Cecil looked ready to strangle her.

They would be arriving to the Capitol that evening, so everyone was trying to get as much sleep as possible. Well, Cecil and Aliss were. Katniss refused any offer to trade places. She refused to sleep. Aliss sighed and unearthed herself from the blankets.

"It's no use laying here doing nothing," she said. "We've tried to go to sleep for an hour. It's not going to happen with this cold, not to mention the fact that we've slept all night after we got back from Symin's and all morning. Katniss, it's your turn. Let us take the controls for a while."

"N-no, you guys r-rest," Katniss stuttered from the pilot's seat.

"I can't rest anymore! I'm going to go insane!" Aliss said, exasperated. "You're not a machine, Katniss! Besides, what use are you going to be when we rescue Peeta and Annie and Johanna and you drop from exhaustion? Come back here right now and _go to sleep_."

"But—"

"Now!"

Grumbling, Katniss switched on the auto-pilot and slumped into a cot, dragging her two blankets behind her. _She looks horrible_, Aliss thought. _Blood-shot eyes, bags, her skin is practically grey...she really needs some sleep. _Sure enough, seconds after she'd buried herself in blankets, she was snoozing away.

Cecil took the controls and switched auto-pilot off, since it used up more fuel to operate. Aliss plopped down into the seat next to him, putting her chin in her hands and watching the factories of District 3 zip by under the smoggy air. She anxiously glanced at the blaring noon sun and sighed.

"What's wrong?" Cecil asked, keeping his eyes trained on the sky.

"The President's army will be in District 13 this evening," she said bluntly. "We won't be there to fight."

"No, we won't."

"And we won't know what's going on either. Someone could die and we wouldn't know it."

"You're right."

"Cecil, what if the President wins? What will happen?"

"I don't know."

"He can't win," Aliss finally said. "Then all this would have been for nothing. We would have just made things worse."

"How?" Cecil contradicted, his gaze flicking towards her for a moment.

"A lot of people would have died. The Hunger Games will be even worse. The President will probably make everyone's life even more miserable than it already is."

"Just because it would make things worse doesn't mean he's incapable of winning," Cecil pointed out grudgingly. "Besides, you won't have to worry about all that."

"What'd you mean?"

"If the President does win, then he'll take you away and you'll go back to your normal life," Cecil explained.

"What? No! Where on earth did you get that idea?!" Aliss said. "I'm not going back, whether we have to go into hiding or even if I have to commit suicide! He's not taking me away!"

"A terrible life is better than no life at all."

"Yes, your right. But living with President Snow is not a _life_. It's a sentence," Aliss said, staring out the window. "I'm not going back."

"What did he do to you?" Cecil suddenly asked, looking at her again.

She sighed. "Where to begin? He killed my mother so no one would know about me. He imprisoned me for my life, not allowing my contact with anyone except a horrible maid named Thea, a guard named Rosemary, and Evan. He then proceeded to ridicule me about my imprisonment. Why he didn't just kill me when I was born is beyond me, but he would have done me a favor."

Cecil snickered bitterly. "Aliss, it's pretty obvious why he hasn't killed you."

"Oh, really? And why's that?" she said sarcastically.

"He loves you."

Aliss snapped her head towards him, anger flaring. "He _loves _me? That..._monster _isn't capable of loving anything! No one who—" she cut off, inhaling deeply.

"No one who what?" Cecil asked carefully.

"No one who..." Aliss began uncertainly. Should she tell him? She needed to tell someone, or else she would fall apart, and Cecil was the strongest person she knew, so... "No one who makes his daughter watch as he hacks off peoples' tongues and then _eats_ them is capable of love."

"He...he eats the Avoxes tongues?" Cecil said, looking green behind his curtain of curly hair.

Aliss nodded. "Yes. It's disgusting and horrific and just downright _wrong_ and he makes me watch. It's like a warning. It's...it's...there's no words for it."

Suddenly Cecil was hugging her hard. She had a second to appreciate it before the aircraft lurched sideways and sent them toppling.

"Cecil, the controls!"

He was already strapped into the pilot's seat. "Sorry. I just...you're right, that's just wrong. That...that _bastard_ doesn't deserve death."

Aliss was silent.

"I still think he loves you though," Cecil said after a moment. Aliss looked at him, infuriated again. He continued. "Everyone is capable of some kind of love. He did all those things as a warning, so you'd be afraid to escape. He loves you. He just doesn't know how to love."

* * *

They reached the Capitol around midnight. Katniss was so excited, she was trembling. Aliss was the opposite of excited. Her knees felt gelatinous and if there had been anything in her stomach she would have retched.

They left the aircraft in an empty parking lot on the outskirts of the city. If they survived, they weren't coming back to it anyway. They would just steal another.

Katniss couldn't show her face in the Capitol. It was a delusional thought. Her face had been broadcasted on millions of television screens in every single household in the Capitol. Even if you were homeless, huge screens were built into skyscrapers throughout the Capitol's streets. There wasn't any way humanly possible for every person in the Capitol not to have seen her face at least once. With that taken into consideration, Cecil and Aliss went into a store and bought one of the ridiculous feathery masks that was luckily the new fashion trend in the Capitol. It consisted of multi-colored neon feathers that flared out in the sides and the top, therefore concealing ones cheeks, nose, and forehead. They also undid her trademark braid and let her thick black hair fall in gentle waves down her back.

As they were buying it, the shop owner observed Aliss curiously, making Cecil tense slightly. He was rather handsome, with pleasant features and coal black hair, but his eyes were hungry and cold.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" he asked suspiciously, leaning over the counter to study her more closely.

She smiled and pretended to consider for a moment. "I don't believe so. I'm sorry, but we're really in a bit of a hurry, so goodbye."

They walked out of the shop, Cecil's arm around her waist. When they got outside, Aliss smirked.

"Jealous much?"

All she got was a "hmph".

They reached the alley that Katniss was hiding in. She had her back turned to them, and she was clutching something.

"Katniss?"

She wheeled around, horror-stricken. "Aliss, look."

She handed her a flyer. Cecil hissed from over her shoulder. A large image of her face covered half the flyer. The other half was a small paragraph.

"_Wanted_," she read. "_Alyssa Marrie Frost. Conspirator of the Capitol in alliance with the rebels_."

Below that was a quote. Aliss read: "_'I am completely convinced that every single ridiculous Capitol citizen is a gullible imbecile who will gratefully swallow any lie thrown to them like a dog is tossed a bone.' –A direct quote from Miss Frost's diary_."

"You wrote that?" Cecil asked.

"Yeah, but I never thought that he would find it!" Aliss said.

"No, it's good," Cecil said, impressed. "That's exactly what—"

"That's not the point!" Katniss interrupted. "Her face is plastered on every wall in the city! We'll never get to Peeta now!" She turned to Aliss, literally pointing a finger at her. "This is_ your _fault! You_ had _to write in a stupid diary and now Peeta is going to die!"

"Katniss, I'm sure the President would have found another way to get Aliss's face plastered all over the Capitol," Cecil said coolly. "We'll just get another mask and deal with it, okay? There's no reason to over-react." He strolled over to the shop across the street—not the one they'd came from—to go buy another mask. Aliss sat with Katniss in the alley, fuming. Her stupid father had found her hidden journal and was now pulling quotes from it to anger the Capitol citizens. One thing was for sure: if she got out of this thing alive, she definitely wasn't living in the Capitol. She stared at Cecil buying the mask through the windows of the shop. Would they all make it out alive?

He came back with the hideous mask, the feathers all different shades of pink. "Sorry," he explained. "It was the only one they had left."

"S'Okay," Aliss said glumly, looking down at her ugly mask. It made Katniss's mask, which was all different shades of green, look elegant and tasteful by comparison. She put it on, and looked up at Cecil blankly. He tried not to laugh, but did not succeed.

"S-sorry," he said between chuckles.

"S'Okay," Aliss said again. "At least you tried."

"It's not that bad."

"Yes it is."

"You're right, it is. But it gave me a good laugh."

"Oh, _thanks_."

"Can we please get back to the task at hand here?" Katniss said impatiently, causing her mask to bob up and down. Aliss giggled. Katniss glared. "Let's_ go_! We don't have all night!"

They emerged from their alley, walking side-by-side down the wide streets of the Capitol, Aliss's expressionless face following them with every step.

* * *

**Anyway, this is Chapter 17 for you. Did you catch my lame pun in the title? See, they fell from their aircraft and Katniss "fell" as in like she had a meltdown. Haha, get it now? Geeet iiiiiit?**

**Um...yeah, sorry. That was lame. Almost as lame as the pun. **

**-Smurf ^^ **


	18. Liars, Cheaters, and The Dead

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Liars, Cheaters, and the Dead

Evan did not pack for the trip to the Capitol.

No one did. Late last night, they received a message from a contact in District 7 saying that they had Katniss, Aliss, and Cecil and that the President's army was in District 7 already. A few hours later, they received another message saying that the three outlaws had escaped.

The President lied.

Did they really expect him to tell the truth? He lied every second of every day. It was practically his _job_. How could they have been so gullible? They'd automatically trusted their former leader and were almost ambushed as a result. Luckily Katniss, Aliss, and Cecil had gone on that mission.

But they'd escaped the spy.

Yet more bad news. Things just kept getting worse and worse. Later this evening, they would all be fighting for their lives. They weren't prepared for this. They were supposed to have another week! Another week to train, to prepare...it seemed impossible, but the President had taken away the one thing they'd been counting on: time.

Everyone was supposed to get in their positions at nineteen-hundred (7:00pm) after they'd eaten and slept for a good long time. Everyone would be stationed in different areas of the underground city. Evan was fighting along with Madge, Linda, Jobee, and a few he didn't quite know outside the infirmary. There were still one or two patents. Prim was too young and too startled by violence to fight, so she would be taking care of them by herself. It was obvious that Linda wished Prim to be safer, but knew that this had to suffice.

He sighed as he crawled out of bed. It was five o'clock already—better get moving. The next few hours will determine whether he lived or died. He grabbed his gun and his bow. He wasn't bad at archery, but he'd rather keep a nice, familiar gun in his hands for the duration of the night.

He walked to the infirmary in silence.

* * *

Evan was about half way there when it happened. The only people in the tunnel with him were Kit, a pretty brunette woman in her mid-thirties, and Jak, the thirteen-year-old boy that was Aliss's first fight. Kit was walking to the cafeteria, and Jak was trying to find his older brother, Jamie. As they were chatting, there was a loud cracking sound and the ceiling above them was reduced to rubble. Evan closed his eyes instinctively, to keep the dust and bits of rock out. Sooty specks filled his nose and mouth. Rock slammed him to the ground, burying him in a pile of sediment. He heard shouts and the stomps of feet muffled by the ash, and as clear as a cannon he heard Kit scream.

Frantically, he tried to burrow out of the mountain of dust on top of him. It was a slow process, but eventually he burst out of it, spitting soot from his mouth and rubbing it out of his eyes. He reached for his gun, but there was no need. Evan could hear the footsteps of the Peacekeepers running down the tunnel. Kit lay on top of the black piles, blood seeping from the red smile on her throat. Jak lay half submerged in the soot, a few feet from him. Evan ran to him and felt for a pulse. There was none.

Just as he was getting ready to remove his fingers, he felt the slightest movement. He waited. There it was again! Jak had a pulse. It was faint, but it was there. Evan dug him out of the ash and dragged him into a safe hiding place. Above him in the gaping hole in the ceiling he saw several huge ships drifting above them, with little specks dropping down and releasing white parachutes.

It was just then that he realized which way the Peacekeepers had run.

He bolted after them. Although he knew that the sick people in the infirmary would die, he desperately wished that Prim, Linda, and Madge weren't there yet. Please, please, _please_ don't let them be there! Prim couldn't fight! Linda wasn't a fighter either! And Madge...he didn't even know if she could fight or not, but he doubted it. Even if she could fight he didn't want her there.

The infirmary was chaos. The Peacekeepers had made it inside, and several of the patents lay bleeding and twisted on the floor, their beds toppled over. Others were doing their best to help, wielding IVs and syringes against their attackers, who had guns and knives. Jobee had made it, and was fighting ferociously. It was the first time in Evan's knowing him that he was frightened of him. He also saw Linda, who was doing her best at staying alive. And Sibil was there. Jamie was there, laying on the floor with three bullet holes in him. Evan felt pity for Jak. There were a few others he didn't know the names of.

He pulled a gun from his belt and that was that. Instinct took over and everything was a blur of motion. Evan drowned in the thrill of a fight, the thunder of a gunshot, the smack of punches, the crunch of broken bone, the metallic smell of blood. The months he had spent convincing himself that he was done hurting people were a lie. He had cheated himself. No amount of healing could ever measure up to this. His father had been right—this was what he was born to do.

Suddenly there was a cry from behind him. A Peacekeeper toppled in front of his feet. Evan had just enough time to notice the dart in his throat before a gunshot snapped his attention back to the battle. Someone had shot the wooden rafters that were bolted to the domed roof to hold curtains. They were also big enough for a person to sit up there and hide. He saw a person duck from the splinters that exploded from the wood. Madge. She had a dart gun in her hand.

There was another gunshot and the wood beside her hand exploded. Evan saw her mouth form an O and she clutched her bleeding hand, shifting the dart gun. Evan looked for the shooter. He saw him, a tiny, beetle-like man that seemed to be the only one who noticed Madge. Evan raised his gun to retaliate.

"Evan!"

He wheeled around at the sound of his name. A Peacekeeper loomed behind him, ready to strike. Suddenly a little body popped out from under a covered table and swung a crowbar with all its might, hitting the Peacekeeper full in the face. He landed with a thud on the ground, and Prim swiftly ducked back into her hiding place.

Evan returned the beetle man and saw him shoot the rafter once more. Madge squeezed her eyes shut and lost her balance, falling off the beam. Evan heard her scream and watched her fall onto two cots, one toppled sideways, the other right side up. She rolled to the floor and did not get up. Evan quickly shot the beetle man, and observed with a sick satisfaction as he fell to the ground, dead. He almost retched. What was happening to him?

He didn't have time to answer. A Peacekeeper lumbered towards him. Duty called.

* * *

They killed and killed, but new Peacekeepers kept replacing the ones that were dead. Evan wished it would end. He couldn't even imagine what the Main Hall looked like right now. He was glad he wasn't there. He pitied the people that were.

Evan killed people he had known. People that he'd been friendly with. People he'd seen, but never talked to. People that he'd despised. People, not Peacekeepers. People who had families and friends and houses and different points of view of the world. People who were doing the exact same thing he was: fighting for what they believed in. Fighting for the only thing they knew.

He would have stopped killing if he could. He would have put down his gun, his bow, his knives. He would have tried to talk sense into these people. But what was the use? They wouldn't listen to him, especially not the Peacekeepers. They would have seen his weakness and shot him to the ground. So it was no use. It was kill, or be killed.

Once, he saw a memorable face from the past. Felix, the burly Peacekeeper who had investigated Aliss's disappearance. He hadn't said more than two phrases to the guy, but he didn't want to kill him. He was kind enough. He didn't bully Rose when she stood against him. He'd gotten the warrant like she'd requested. He wasn't perfect, but he was _good_. He didn't deserve to die because he was doing his job. Isn't that what he, Evan, was doing? His job?

Felix caught his eye for a moment. There was recognition, surprise, and...hesitation? For the first time Evan noticed the gun in Felix's hands. He couldn't raise his own. He seemed to be frozen in the midst of the battle. Felix turned away, raising his gun towards someone else. He didn't want to shoot Evan anymore than Evan wanted to shoot him.

But his gun was aimed straight at Linda.

Evan was at a loss, but someone took care of the problem for him. A dart pierced Felix in the back of the neck. He fell to the ground. Evan wheeled around, looking for Felix's assassin. He saw a strand of blond hair trailing from behind a rafter. Quickly, he glanced at the two beds. There were bloody smears, but Madge was no longer laying there.

He clenched his teeth. Madge had saved Linda, but killed Felix. He wasn't innocent, but neither was Evan. No one in this room was innocent, not even little twelve-year-old Prim. If _this_ was the kind of life he was fighting for, the kind of life where _children_ killed people, he didn't want it. He would rather be a slave than a monster.

There was an earth-shattering crack that stopped even the most vicious fighters. Everyone forgot their differences momentarily and looked up. There was another boom, this one seeming to shred the fabric of matter. Evan fell beneath its force. The ground tremorred. Pieces of the wall collapsed. He covered his ears, but they still rang when the third bomb went off.

He couldn't hear anything except the loud screaming in his ears. People were yelling too, Mockingjays and Peacekeepers alike, but all Evan could see were their mouths moving. They tried running, but there were more crashes and tremors and they fell to the ground, resorting to crawling. He began to crawl too. Where he was going, he didn't know, but he needed to get out of here. The infirmary was on the outskirts of the underground city in District 13. Too close to the place where the bombs were going off, that's for sure. He needed to get closer to the Main Hall, where in would be safest.

There was a sharp pain in his head, and all went black.

* * *

Evan awoke gasping and coughing. He sat up, looking around and brushing ash out of his eyes. The whole place had a silence, a peace about it. Grey ash floated down from the hole in the ceiling. The clouds above were reflecting violent colors: red, orange, purple, black. The ground was piled high with the grey powder that looked disturbingly like snow. Evan could see where the rocks and bodies lay underneath.

He stood up, the shuffling of the soot under his boots breaking the silence. The battle was over. The absence of sound signified that. Fighting couldn't be this quiet. The real question was which side won?

His boots crunched with every step he took as he walked out of the ruined infirmary. The tunnels were still intact, so there was no strange grey ash covering the damage. Dead bodies, Mockingjay and Peacekeeper alike, littered the tunnels. The ground was slick with sticky red blood. Evan couldn't help it. He vomited.

He walked on. At another, smaller hole in the ceiling, a familiar face greeted him with a blank stare. It was Kit. Evan remembered Jak, who he'd stashed in the niche in the tunnel. He hurried to the hiding spot and turned away. Again he walked on, leaving Jak's decapitated body behind.

Several more horrible sights haunted him as he walked on. Evan wasn't entirely sure where he was going, but he knew that eventually he would end up at the Main Hall. Every tunnel did, one way or another.

The Main Hall was devoid of life. The ceiling was caved in, letting the falling grey ash dust the perimeter. The death was catastrophic. There wasn't a single space that didn't occupy a dead body. Even the creek that cut down the diameter of the room was red with blood. Evan watched from the fourth floor as the current dislodged a small body from the edge and swept it down into the hole in the wall where the creek exited the Hall.

Suddenly, he saw movement. A tiny person was curled up in the roots of the willow tree, where the water flowed in clear before it hit the casualties. He ducked into a tunnel and ran down to the first floor so he could go to it, not caring whether it was a friend or an enemy, just wanting another human consciousness with him.

The person was covered with ash and held her face in her hands, so he didn't see who she was until he was close. If she heard him coming, she didn't show it. She just kept crying.

"Prim?" Evan whispered.

She looked up with a gasp. Tear tracks cleared the grey dust from her face, and droplets were suspended from her lashes. She was wet from the knees down, where the water had splashed her.

"Prim?" he said again. "Are you...okay?"

She shook her head. "Everyone's dead."

"Everyone? Everyone can't be dead," Evan said. "If we're alive, someone else must be alive too."

"I can't find my mom," she said.

He took her little wet hand. "Let's go look for her, okay?"

"Okay."

He helped her off the roots and they began shaking people's still forms; people who didn't have any injuries and could still be alive. They felt for pulses, for warmth. There must be _somebody_. Anybody.

"Evan!" Prim called from across the room. "It's Arroe! She has a pulse! Arroe has a pulse!"

Evan ran to her. Arroe was splayed on the ground, her red hair looking vivid compared to the grey residue that covered everything. There was an equally vivid slash in her side.

"I_ had _to feel for a pulse, just to be sure," Prim explained. "It's really tiny, but it's still there."

Evan put his fingers to Arroe's neck. After a few seconds, there was some resistance. It was even smaller than Jak's, but it was still there. Arroe was still alive.

But she was dying.

Evan knew he couldn't let that happen. Arroe couldn't die. He glanced up at Prim, who was beaming at Arroe intensely.

"Okay, Prim," he began. "We need to get her to the infirmary."

"But the infirmary's wrecked," Prim pointed out.

"Damn! You're right. But if we don't do something..."

Prim whimpered.

"Okay, okay. Keep pressure on that, Prim," Evan muttered, taking off his jacket and tearing it into strips. He bandaged Arroe's wound as tight as he could while Prim gave him tips on how to make it better. She _had_ been doing this longer than him, though she was younger. After he was done he picked Arroe up and carried her over to the willow, sitting her down gently and instructing Prim to wash her as best she could. Prim nodded and began her task, cupping the clear water in her hands and bringing it over to her charge.

Evan continued searching for life.

* * *

**A rather short chapter, but climatic all the same. Sorry the "big battle" scene was kind of a dud, I did the best I could.**

**Two things I would like to point out. Though I do like to make my fanfiction as precise as possible, it's never going to be perfect. For instance, my distance in relation to the Districts is off. I'm aware. It still surprises me how observing readers can be. Am I the only one who didn't notice that all of the Capitolite's names were Roman, with the exception of Effie? From now on in this story and in future Hunger Games fics I'll be sure to do that. **

**The second thing: I'm neutral on the whole "Gale vs. Peeta" debate. Although I did mention something in my story about Katniss choosing Gale, it will become more and more apparent in my story that I am neutral.**

**Thank you all for reviewing on my story. I think I've said this once before, but it's nice to know that people care enough to complement and correct it. **

**-Smurf ^^ **


	19. Impulse

CHAPTER NINETEEN: Impulse (Warning: Super long chapter.)

Infiltrating the Capitol Building was not as easy as Jobee and Cecil made it look. Simply climbing up a rope ladder onto a random balcony wasn't going to cut it this time. They needed precision and certainty. What they needed was a map.

Aliss wasn't even sure this map existed. She had memorized the lay-out of the west corridor, where she lived, but that was as far as her knowledge went. Peeta, Annie, and Johanna could have been imprisoned right next door to her, and she would have been completely oblivious to it.

It was hard to concentrate on all this when she knew that everyone was fighting for their lives at this very moment. She was aware of the consequences if they lost, but the real mystery was the aftermath of their victory. What would happen, exactly? The President wouldn't just surrender...would he? _No, of course not, _Aliss thought. _That's impossible. We'd have to kill him before he ever surrendered_.

This thought struck Aliss hard. If the Mockingjays wanted to win this war, the President would have to die. The Mockingjays would have to murder her father. Either the President dies, or the rebels do. There was no other option.

"Aliss, you okay?" Cecil asked.

"Hmm? Yeah, I'm fine."

The three of them sat in an alley, resting. They were only a block or two away from the Capitol Building. They couldn't do anything else until they knew where the captives were being held and how to get to them.

"How are we going to do this?" Katniss muttered helplessly. "We have no idea...about anything."

"If there _is _a map, you do realize who's going to have it, right?" Cecil said.

"But why would the President need a map to his own building? He probably knows the whole place by heart," Aliss pointed out.

"Yes, but he didn't build it. He wasn't the President when the Capitol Building was constructed. So he must have had something to guide him around when he first started out, right?"

"But why would he keep it?" Katniss asked.

"For the next President," Cecil said simply. "He wasn't the first President and he won't be the last. Someone will have to take his place, and then they'll get the map."

"You'd think that all the employees would have a map," Aliss pondered. "They have to know their way around the Capitol Building too."

"Maybe they do. But don't all the maids live in the Capitol Building?"

"No, none of them do. Only high officials like Gamemakers and their guards do. And the President's family members, of course."

"Hmmm...what if we wait until a maid comes out and we grab her and take her map?" Katniss proposed.

"That sounds great," Aliss said. "But if I could just make one suggestion..."

"What?" Katniss and Cecil said simultaneously.

Aliss just smiled sadistically in return.

* * *

Katniss, Aliss, and Cecil lingered around the Capitol Building for a few minutes before Aliss grabbed Cecil's arm and pointed.

"There," she said breathlessly. "That's her."

The maid was rail thin and fragile, though she couldn't have been more than fifty. Wrinkles were etched like canyons into a severe, critical face. Sleek grey hair was up in a tight bun. Cecil could just make out a thin wooden switch at her waistband.

"_That's_ your maid?" Katniss said incredulously.

"Yes, that's Thea."

Cecil smirked. "This is going to be _too_ easy."

"Don't underestimate her," Aliss warned. "She's tougher than she looks."

"Aliss," Cecil said, looking down at her and raising an eyebrow in amusement. "I've squashed bugs bigger than her."

"Um, guys?" Katniss interrupted. "If we're going to do this we better do it quick. She's pretty far now."

The maid, Thea, did have quite a brisk walk and was already halfway through the courtyard.

"Okay, lets follow her until she gets down that road," Katniss instructed, pointing. "And then we'll grab her."

The casually walked towards the exit of the courtyard, chatting. Cecil had to admit, the courtyard was gorgeous. There was an array of enormous fountains in the very center of the fifty meter by fifty meter courtyard. A cobblestone walkway diverged and twisted in every possible entrance and exit—even the elegant granite tables and benches each had their own path. Were there wasn't cobblestone walkways, there was lustrous green grass carpeting the ground. Trees of all different kinds were strategically placed for shade and increased beauty. There was only one thing that didn't appeal to Cecil: the extravagant but sturdy iron fence that surrounded the perimeter.

He saw a woman in a feathery mask sitting at a table and had a brilliant idea for a conversation topic.

"So, Agnes," he said in the ridiculous Capitol accent. "I _love_ your new mask. Where did you get it?"

"Oh it's funny you should ask," Aliss replied. "My boyfriend got it for me. He has such horrible taste, but I'm having coffee with him later, so I decided to wear it to please him. I think you've met him before. Yes, at that shop where we got my cousin's mask. You know, the shop owner? That was him."

Cecil bitterly retreated into silence.

They continued to walk together until they made it outside the courtyard. Cecil split from the girls, waving goodbye and taking a different route to the street where they were planning to grab Thea. He walked at a casual pace until he got to a dark alley. Then he ran.

When he heard the _clack, clack!_ of Thea's shoes, he slowed to a quiet jog. He stopped at the corner or the alley, and waited. He saw her rail thin shadow stretch over the expanse of the alley. The sound of her footsteps go louder and louder until he saw her figure. He lunged.

Aliss was right. As soon as he grabbed her arms, she was elbowing him and kicking him with her pointy heels and—

"OW!" And biting him, even.

It wasn't until she'd grabbed her switch and started lashing his face mercilessly that Aliss and Katniss finally decided to arrive.

"Get off me, you _fiend_!" Thea was shouting. Cecil has having trouble detaining her. Katniss ran up and hit Thea's head from behind. She fell limp, dropping the switch.

"Are you okay, Cecil?" Aliss asked, quaking with laughter.

"No!" he said, rubbing his stinging cheek.

"I told you she was a hand full."

"You didn't tell me she was psycho!"

"I would have done the same thing, if I was her," Katniss put in, shrugging. "Now are you going to help me search her or not?"

They helped search Thea. After a few minutes, they gave up. There was no map.

"Well, now what?" Katniss asked impatiently.

"I don't know. Maybe we can just make it up as we go along, like Jobee and I did," Cecil said.

"We're not kidnapping some random person!" Katniss exclaimed. "We're rescuing Peeta!"

"And Annie and Johanna," Cecil reminded.

"Whatever!" she yelled. "We're rescuing specific people! We can't just make it up as we go along!"

Aliss was silent. She was staring intently at something. Cecil looked at Katniss, confused. She shrugged. They both glanced at Aliss again.

Without warning, she stood up and walked over to a corner of the alley and picked something up. It was Thea's switch.

"Aliss? What're you doing?" Cecil asked.

"Do you remember Symin's communication device?"

"Yeah."

Aliss smiled. She ran her fingers over the wooden surface of the switch until she got about an inch from the tip. She pulled, and the top piece came off. She flipped the switch upside down and a roll of paper slipped into her hands. "I think we just found our map."

* * *

It wasn't so much a map as a blueprint. Sketches of each floor covered both sides of the huge paper. It amazed Aliss that the whole thing could fit into Thea's hollow switch. They left Thea in the alley, assuming that someone would either find her or she would wake up. They had gotten what they needed and had no use for her anymore. They'd all needed a map, but Aliss secretly needed some revenge. It felt good, after all those years of harsh discipline.

After much heated discussion, they agreed to enter through Aliss's old bedroom, since it was the one room sure to be empty and the corridor was familiar to her. There were two places that the captives were likely to be: The Avox room, where the President mutilated Avoxes, or the Capitol Building Jail, where prisoners were put right before execution. The first was located in the west corridor and the latter was located on the very last floor, two stories below ground.

They settled in another alley and took turns sleeping until the iron gates around the courtyard clanged shut.

"Hey," Aliss whispered, shaking Cecil awake. "The gate's closed. Time to go."

They woke Katniss and quietly snuck their way over to the Capitol Building. The iron gates of the courtyard only surrounded the front. The rest of the building had other security precautions. The blueprint didn't specify these, so they would have to be careful and improvise if necessary. They hoped to get out of this quietly, but Jobee and Cecil didn't succeed that when they kidnapped Aliss, and they doubted that they would succeed in this case as well. Aliss just prayed that no one would be injured...or worse.

Cecil threw the rope ladder they'd saved from the aircraft up to the balcony. He missed the first time, but got it the second. Since Aliss was the smallest, and easiest to catch, she was the first to climb the ladder and tie it to the railing. It was then that she'd discovered she hated heights. Standing on a safe, sturdy balcony was okay, but when you were suspended from a flimsy rope ladder that could fall at any moment, it was kind of frightening. Her knees didn't stop trembling until she reached the top and climbed over the railing. She took a second to breathe, and then she tied the ladder to the railing and waited for her two companions to climb up.

As they climbed, she stared at the Capitol skyline. It really was a beautiful city, no matter how many idiots and villains lived there. A soft breeze rustled her hair. Curiously, she looked up at the sky. It was a blank indigo...no stars. Just a fuzzy white blur that was supposedly the moon. There weren't even clouds to cover them. Aliss remembered when she saw the real moon for the first time. It was when they'd stolen the aircraft. She'd been so amazed, because it was so much clearer and brighter than in the Capitol. It illuminated everything in sharp contrast, as if it was being sketched in black and white. So different from the eerie grey glow that the Capitol's moon produced. And it had only been a skinny sliver in the sky. Cecil and Katniss took turns explaining what stars looked like, and the moon's cycle and such. The glass of the aircraft was too thick and tinted to see the stars, but Cecil and Katniss made them sound magical.

Aliss wanted to see a star before she died.

Katniss interrupted her thoughts by clamoring over the railing. "Cecil's on his way up," she said. "We're going to go ahead and pick the lock on your door."

Aliss nodded and followed her. By the time the lock clicked and Aliss removed her needle-thin backup knife, Cecil had joined them on the balcony. They silently opened the door and a wave of cool air greeted them. Aliss screeched to a stop, making Katniss bump into her.

"Aliss, what are you doing?" she hissed.

"Something's not right," Aliss whispered back. She cautiously took a step forward, her boot sinking into the plush carpet. The room was dark, except for the gentle grey haze coming from behind them. Looking around, she saw nothing out of the ordinary. The only thing that was slightly different was the bouquet of flowers next to her bed. _Why would there be flowers here?_ Aliss thought. Roses, they looked like. Maybe that was what was of...the smell of roses...

Aliss froze as it dawned on her. Not just roses. There was another smell too.

"Aliss?" Cecil murmured.

"My father's been here," she said. "Recently."

Katniss stiffened. "What?"

Aliss took another step inside. It was silent. No breathing. No movement. "He's not here now," she said with certainty, turning to look at her companions. "This doesn't change anything. Let's keep going."

With a careful tread they continued onward, this unexpected twist reminding them of the unknown obstacles ahead.

* * *

The way to the Avox room was quick and quiet. They stuck to the shadows and arrived without incident. There were only two guards stationed at the door, and they were knocked out quickly. They slipped into the room. It turned out not to be the actual room, however. They found themselves in the observation room beside it. Most of the room was bare, except for some medical, video, and audio equipment mashed together in the corner. The whole front wall was a huge window, revealing a blank white room with a reclining chair. The chair had restraints on it.

"There's nothing here," Katniss stated after a thorough look around. "No trap doors or anything. We can check that room but—"

"But that room has video cameras running at all times," Aliss said, pointing to a screen that portrayed the room. "Besides, I think if there was something we'd be able to see it from here."

"Okay, so we'll check the other place," Cecil said logically.

"What if we don't find them?" Katniss whispered to Aliss as Cecil poked his head outside to check for Peacekeepers.

"Don't worry, Katniss. We will."

"The coast is clear," Cecil said.

They snuck into the dark hallway and crept along the wall. The jail was five floors down, so it would be a little trickier to get to. But with one look at Katniss, Aliss knew that they had to try.

They obviously weren't going to use the elevator. Not only did it have cameras, but people were bound to be using it, even at this hour. Aliss was surprised that they hadn't met someone yet. The Capitol Building was always bustling with activity, but the only people they'd seen so far were the guards stationed at particularly important politicians' rooms. Maybe it was because they were in the residential part of the building. Surely the business portion would be busier?

Still, something didn't seem right about the Capitol Building's hollow halls.

Aliss bumped into Cecil's back. He wheeled around and ushered them into the darkest corner. Then she heard it: footsteps. All three of them held their breath. Cecil was blocking her view, so all Aliss saw was the elongated shadow of a man. Curiously, she did her best to peek over his shoulder without making noise. She could just barely make out the man's face in the dim lighting...

Her hands made fists in the back of Cecil's shirt. That was Dr. Calvin Carters, the man who took away the Avox's ability to speak. He looked around suspiciously before gently knocking on a door. It opened immediately, revealing another person, a woman who Aliss didn't recognize.

She spoke first. "Calvin."

"Agatha," Dr. Carters said, bowing his head as she had done. "I received orders to be here...?"

"Yes, that's correct. The President has a job for you to do involving the prisoners."

Aliss heard a sharp intake of breath from behind her. She kept her eyes on the doctors.

Agatha continued. "Goodbye, Dr. Calvin." Aliss saw her slip something into his hand.

"Good night, Nurse Agatha."

The nurse closed the door and Dr. Carters walked away. Cecil glanced behind him. Katniss and Aliss nodded. They silently followed Dr. Carters down the corridor.

* * *

Aliss took care of Dr. Carters personally. All she did was knock him out, but it took all of her will power not to kill him then and there. They found a slip of paper in his pocket and stored his unconscious body in the nearest bathroom stall.

"What does it say?" Katniss asked impatiently.

Aliss unfolded it and groaned. "It's coded!"

"What?" Katniss snatched the slip of paper from her hands. Instead of words, the figures grouped together on this paper were not letters; they were strange symbols. She clenched the paper angrily and glared at them, her eyes glistening faintly. "Now what?"

"Let me think," Aliss said carefully. "Dr. Carters doesn't live in the Capitol Building, so we can't search for a decoder..." She looked at Cecil for help.

"That lady...Agatha. What are the chances of her having a decoder?" he said after a moment.

"That's brilliant!" Aliss said. "She's bound to have one."

The door where Dr. Carters had met with Agatha wasn't far, so the walk there was uneventful. When they got to the door, however, they discovered that it was locked. Aliss used her backup, but it didn't work. After the third try, she heard something from inside and frantically motioned for Katniss and Cecil to hide. She ducked into the shadows just as the door opened and Agatha stepped out, closing it behind her. Briskly, in a manner that was disturbingly similar to Thea, she walked down the corridor. They followed her.

As she walked, Agatha dug around in her purse. This was not alarming to any of them, as they'd seen several of the Capitol women do this before when they were looking for keys or something of that nature. When Agatha wheeled around, it was not keys she had in her hand. It was a gun.

"Did you honestly think I didn't hear you?" she inquired coldly. By the looks on their faces, Katniss and Cecil were just as shocked as Aliss was. Agatha continued. "Get down on your knees and put your hands behind your heads. Do it now."

They regretfully complied. Agatha pointed the gun at Aliss. "Lay all your weapons on the ground then scoot backwards, slowly. Do it now." Aliss took her many knives from her belt, along with the gun that she barely knew how to shoot. The only thing she didn't take out were the two slim backup blades in her boots, knowing that Agatha wouldn't be able to detect them. She slid backwards on her knees, keeping her hands visible. Agatha did the same to Katniss. She stopped in front of Cecil, aiming the gun at his forehead. "You, too. Do what they did."

Slowly, Cecil began reaching for his waistband. Then, suddenly, he grabbed for the gun.

He had the barrel in his hands, pointing down at the ground when Agatha pulled the trigger. There was no bullet, just a square something, a coil of wire, and loud curse from Cecil. Agatha toppled over as he pulled the taser from her grasp.

"A taser, really?" he said. "You two okay?"

"Yes, we're fine," they answered as the gathered their weapons.

They did the same with Agatha as they did with Dr. Carters. They found a key when they searched her.

"Are you okay?" Aliss asked Cecil as they stuffed Agatha in the bathroom stall.

"Yup, just lost feeling in my foot there for a second. The women in the Capitol are psycho," he added as an afterthought.

They, once again, walked back to the mysterious door. The key fit perfectly.

The room was a small office. The bronze nameplate on the desk read: _Nurse Agatha U. Samuel_. They searched the desk relentlessly. Finally, Katniss found a folded piece of paper behind a picture of Agatha and a young boy. Aliss felt guilty after she saw that the nurse had a son, but there was nothing they could do about it now.

"It's the code!" Katniss exclaimed when she unfolded the paper.

They set to work on the note.

It took a while, but they eventually got a result. Aliss read it.

"_Dr. Calvin Carters_," she began. "_The three subjects of capture (Annie Cresta, Johanna Mason, and Peeta Mellark) have all been uncooperative in questioning and have shown no signs of relenting, even to the severest of interrogations. Tomorrow evening at exactly 8:35 pm, report to my office to execute the hostages. Though execution is not your area of expertise, you are the most trusted of my doctors and I wish for you to keep this confidential, speaking about it only to me or Nurse Agatha Samuel, who will be your assistant during the execution. Thank you, President Snow._"

"What...what does that mean?" Katniss asked hoarsely.

"It means we need to find them," Cecil said. "Now."

* * *

The President's office was heavily guarded. Eight Peacekeepers were stationed outside the door, four on each side. These were the broadest, harshest Peacekeepers that Aliss had ever seen. They stood unmoving, their white uniforms spotless, the hard panes of their faces expressionless. Guns were held ready at their side. Two more Peacekeepers walked up and down the hallway, silent and spectral. Aliss retreated behind the corner with Cecil and Katniss.

"There's no way we can get in there," she concluded grimly. "Not from here anyway."

"Is there another way on the map?" Katniss suggested.

As quietly as she could, Aliss unfolded the blueprint. "No, it doesn't look like it."

"We have to get in there, Aliss."

"We will, I told you that. We just need to change our game plan." Both of them looked at Cecil.

"What?" he said, flabbergast.

"Well, you always seem to come up with an idea in situations like this," Aliss said.

"No pressure or anything..." he muttered. He thought for a moment, pushing the mat of curly hair out of his eyes. "Okay, what if we distract them?"

"Distract them?" Katniss repeated. "How?"

"We could make some kind of noise on the other end of the hallway, and then their numbers would be depleted enough for us to get inside undetected," Cecil said.

"I highly doubt that one little noise is going to send ten Peacekeepers investigating."

"Yes, but if the Peacekeeper who investigated didn't come back, they would get a little suspicious, don't you think?"

"Well, how would we make a noise and keep one Peacekeeper restrained on the other end of the hallway?" Aliss asked.

"One of us would have to go over there and distract them," Cecil explained. "I'll do it, since I—"

"No, none of us are splitting up," Aliss objected.

"Aliss, it's not going to work unless—"

"Find another way to make it work," she hissed fiercely. "We. Aren't. Splitting. Up. It's too dangerous."

"I agree," Katniss said.

"Fine," Cecil surrendered, not taking his eyes off Aliss. "So what's the new plan?"

Aliss put her palms against her eyelids. "What if...what if we shoot and make it look like it came across the hall? That's serious enough to gather some attention."

Cecil shrugged. "Works for me."

"Okay, then do it!" Katniss said impatiently.

Cecil poked his head around the corner. He waited for the two Peacekeepers that walked to turn away, and then he aimed and shot.

The reaction was immediate. The two Peacekeepers hurled towards the opposite end of the hallway along with two others. Two more Peacekeepers slipped into the office, leaving only two at the door. They spoke into radios urgently.

"Yes, there was a gunshot in the south east corridor on the sixth floor near the President's quarters, emergency procedures were just initiated, over."

"Copy that, we'll keep a look out for suspicious persons, over."

Cecil shot one guard. The other jumped back in surprise and grabbed his gun. Cecil ducked behind the corner as he shot. When there was a pause, Cecil poked out and shot again. "Okay, move," he said hastily, ushering Aliss and Katniss in front of him. The office door opened and a baffled Peacekeeper ran out. Aliss heard Cecil fire behind her and the Peacekeeper fell. The other one Aliss was close enough to take care of, as he didn't have his gun ready. She kicked. The Peacekeeper doubled over and she rammed her knee into his face. The three of them ran into the office and shut the door, locking it behind them.

"Look for a trap door or something!" Aliss said. She was certain that the captives were in here now. No office, not even the President's, needed that much security unless something really important was hidden in there. She ran her hands over the walls, looking for the thinnest hairline crack. There was yelling outside, and the door shuttered violently. "Hurry!" she urged.

"Aliss! Katniss! I've got something!" Cecil called. He shoved the President's chair out of the way. Just visible in the wood floor was the smallest flaw, a crack just bigger than the slits between the other boards. He slipped his fingers in and tried to pull it up. Katniss and Aliss helped. Between the three of them, they removed the heavy piece of floor. There was a series of gunshots outside.

"They're trying to shoot the doorknob off," Cecil said breathlessly. Katniss climbed down the shaft. There was another shudder, and a crack behind the door. Aliss slipped into the hole. Cecil dragged the heavy cover as close to the hole as he dared, then hopped in and dragged it over the opening. They were left in complete darkness. Katniss produced a flashlight from her belt and flicked it on.

They were on a platform in a narrow shaft. The construction was similar to that of a pulley. The walls were so narrow that Aliss's arm was in contact with a wall, even though she was as close to the middle of the platform as she could get with Katniss and Cecil aboard. It was obvious that this was made for one person, two at the most.

"Down?" she asked.

"Down it is," Cecil said. He untied a rope and the platform fell, the sides scraping against the walls wildly. The air rushed upward. Aliss didn't even have time to scream. Cecil grabbed the rope and pulled. The platform came to an immediate stop, causing them all to topple on top of each other. Aliss felt her like her stomach was in her throat.

"Never. Do. That. Again," Katniss breathed. There was a perilous groan from the platform, as if it agreed with her. They were completely still for a moment, although Katniss's elbow was digging into Aliss's side, and most of Cecil's torso was crushing her legs. The idea of the platform giving terrified her—they could be stories or inches above the ground. Most likely stories.

"Be careful when you get up," Aliss cautioned, twitching her knee so that Cecil knew she was talking to him. Slowly, they all righted themselves. Cecil let the rope slip through his fingers, creating a much more reasonable pace. Katniss exhaled. Aliss picked up the flashlight and looked around her in wonder. "It's like a secret elevator."

"But with two floors," Cecil pointed out.

Aliss pointed the flashlight at him in confusion.

"The President's office is one floor, and wherever we're going is the only other floor."

"Ah."

Katniss exhaled again. Aliss turned her flashlight on her.

"You okay?"

"I don't like things like this," she said shakily.

"Oh. Is there anything we can do to help?"

"Don't make me talk."

"Sorry."

There was silence, except for the repetitive squeaking from the platform. Katniss sighed again.

"This is even worse. Talk, please."

"Why don't you like things like this?" Aliss asked.

Katniss glared at her. "_That's _the conversation topic you choose?"

"Sorry, it was the first thing that popped into my head. I can change it if you want—"

Katniss was spared from having to answer by a thump. They'd reached the bottom of the shaft. A dark tunnel stretched ahead of them.

"Shall we?" Cecil said, letting go of the rope.

They walked. The tunnel was straightforward and simple. Something told Aliss that they weren't in the Capitol Jail—they were below even that. The tunnel was uncomfortably cool and its black stone walls were slick with mildew. Each step felt like an eternity. What would they encounter at the end of this?

After what seemed like hours of walking, they found out. The tunnel opened into a dark cavern. Aliss could hear water dripping. A big brown rat scampered across the beam of her flashlight. Also within the beam of the flashlight was a bare foot. A bare _human_ foot.

Slowly, Aliss moved the flashlight upwards.

The three hostages were in a horrible state. They had a resemblance to skeletons. Their skin was a grayish green and they were all too skinny. They wore nothing but rags. Their bloody wrists were manacled to the wall. This wasn't a jail. It was a dungeon. A torture chamber. Katniss ran to the boy in the center. Aliss had watched the Hunger Games, and Peeta Mellark didn't even look this bad when he'd been sunken into the stream bed, or when his face had melted from nerve gas.

Katniss kneeled beside him, putting a hand over her mouth to muffle her sobbing. Peeta looked at her dimly, as though he was seeing her through a heavy fog. He muttered something. He coughed and said it again, more audibly.

"Please, not again. Don't kill her again, please."

Katniss looked back at Aliss and Cecil hopelessly. She turned back to him. "Peeta, I'm not a hallucination. I'm real." She put her hand on his face. "It's me. I'm really here."

His eyes widened with understanding. "Katniss?"

She did her best to smile and nodded.

Feeling as though she was intruding, Aliss turned to another hostage. If she looked really hard, this one bared a resemblance to Johanna Mason.

"Johanna?" she said carefully.

She sneered at Aliss and spit. "Get away from me! Haven't you already done enough? I'm not telling you a damn thing!"

"Johanna, I'm here to help you."

"We've done this before! Running out of ideas, Sir President?" Johanna gasped.

Deciding that arguing with her was useless, Aliss passed the flashlight to Cecil and took out her make-shift lock pick. Johanna went hysterical, screaming things that Aliss couldn't even comprehend, but she was sure that they weren't flattering remarks. She dodged the flying feet and grabbed Johanna's wrists, which were so tiny that she could restrain her with one hand. She slipped the blade into the lock until she heard a click, and then undid Johanna's handcuffs.

That was a mistake. Johanna looked at her mangled wrists for one moment and struggled to stand up. Aliss watched with careful curiosity. Suddenly, Johanna bolted for the tunnel. Cecil caught her at last minute, and she lashed out.

"LET ME GO! LET ME GO RIGHT NOW! I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE! PLEASE! ARRRGH!"

"Johanna! Johanna calm down! We're getting you out of here, don't worry!" Aliss said.

She went limp, gasping for breath in Cecil's arms. "Really?"

"Yes, but we need to get Peeta and Annie out too, okay?"

"O-okay," she said nodding. She fell to the floor.

Aliss moved on to Peeta, who was waiting patiently. She undid his bonds and left Katniss to help him. She came to Annie, who was curled in a little ball. Aliss was aware that Annie was already emotionally scarred from her time in the Hunger Games arena, so she knew that she must be very careful. "Annie?"

A little green eye peeped out from under a curtain of matted brown hair. She cowered against the wall.

"Annie, listen I'm here to help you, okay?" Aliss said. "I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. I just need you to stay still so I can undo your bonds." She revealed the knife. Annie began sobbing into her knees. Aliss gently picked the lock in her handcuffs and let Annie's wrists fall to the floor. Annie unfurled herself and looked at Aliss with desperate gratefulness. Aliss helped her up.

"Can you all walk?" she asked. They all nodded. "Okay, then follow me."

There was a loud creak. Aliss's eyes widened. "The platform!"

They sprinted down the tunnel, but they didn't get there in time. They watched the bottom of the platform retreat into darkness that was too far above the range of the flashlight.

* * *

They looked for another way out. There was none. They had just given the President three more hostages.

They sat in darkness in despair. Annie was plastered to Aliss's side, as Katniss was with Peeta. Aliss suddenly doubted her previous observation about Gale, but she decided that she wasn't going to open that can of worms. Katniss's relationship problems weren't important at the moment. They needed to focus on getting out.

"What are we going to do now?" Johanna sobbed.

"I don't know," Katniss said truthfully.

"I hope that the President drops the rope and falls to his death," Aliss mumbled.

Cecil perked up. He grabbed the flashlight and ran down the tunnel, leaving the group in utter bewilderment. After a moment of surprised glances, they got up and decided to follow him. He was at the platform area.

"Cecil, what are you doing?" Aliss asked. Grinning, Cecil picked up a length of rope that was coiled on the floor.

"This rope connects to the platform. It works like a pulley, so when you tug on it the platform goes up and the rope lowers to the ground. When you let go of the rope, the platform falls since it's heavier and the rope is lifted off the ground," he said.

"Right."

"But if you tie the rope to something, say... a wooden beam," Cecil said, pointing upward. "Then the platform is completely stationary, whether you tug on the rope or not."

"Okay..." Aliss said, still confused.

"So, if one of us climbs the rope, then the platform will stay where it is, but they'll be able to climb up to it and untie the rope," Cecil explained. "Then, they can lower the platform and let others onto it."

"Cecil, that's perfect!" Aliss said. She turned to Katniss. "We still have a chance."

"Who's going to climb the rope? Not any of us," Johanna said, gesturing to Peeta, Annie, and herself. "We're exhausted from all this running already."

"I'll do it," Aliss said. Cecil was about to protest, but she continued before he could get a word in. "I'm the smallest, so you'll be able to catch me if I fall. I can't say the same for you."

With that, she began climbing.

It was much more difficult and terrifying than the rope ladder, even though this was firmly tied to a wooden beam. She didn't fall (thankfully, because she was sure that Cecil wouldn't let her go again if she did) but she had to stop frequently to catch her breath, and she slipped often. When she reached the top, she was trembling and out of breath. She slipped her arm in the gap between the wall and the platform, fumbling with the knot. It wasn't tight, so she had it untied in no time. The hard part was getting onto the platform without letting go of the rope, but she succeeded after a few shaky moments. She looked at the rope in her hands. There was only one way to get down their fast enough to take up two loads. Biting her lip so she wouldn't scream, she let the rope slip almost completely through her fingers.

The result was the same. The sides of the platform banged against the walls so hard that it sprayed splinters in her face. She grabbed a support beam on the side of the platform after Aliss felt her body being lifted from the bottom. After a few terrifying seconds she heard calls from below. She tightened her grasp on the rope and slammed against the wooden base. A shout of pain erupted from her chest, but she cut it off immediately.

"Aliss, are you okay?" she heard Cecil call faintly.

"Yes, I'm fine," she groaned.

"Then come down..._slowly_." By the tone in his voice, she knew she was in serious trouble. She decided not to make it worse and obliged to his request. A flood of relief went through her when the platform touched the ground. They helped her off and Peeta, Katniss, and Johanna got the platform. Evidently they'd already decided the order of the loads. Katniss pulled the rope with some help from Peeta, and they went upwards.

As soon as they were gone, she got it.

"What the_ hell _were you thinking!" Cecil scolded. "You could have killed yourself!"

"Nice to know you were worried about me," she teased lightly, trying not to clutch her aching abdomen. No matter how hard she tried, Cecil noticed.

"Let me see your side," he demanded. Rolling her eyes, Aliss lifted her shirt just enough to show him her stomach and her side.

"I'm fine," she said. "Just a little bruising."

"A _little_...Aliss, your whole ribcage is turning purple."

"I don't have any broken ribs—trust me I know what that feels like."

Cecil pressed his hand against her ribs. She winced. "You're right, you don't have any broken ribs, but you're still beat up pretty bad..." he said, eyebrows creasing.

Aliss pulled down her shirt. "I'll be fine. I have a high tolerance for pain."

There was a loud squeak from above that made Annie jump. The platform was rushing down the shaft of its own accord. Aliss could make out a square of light where Katniss had the rope ready to pull. The platform stopped a couple feet from the ground fell the rest of the way, showering them with dust. Cecil got on. Aliss ushered Annie in and helped Cecil with the rope.

It was obvious that Annie did not like this platform at all. She fidgeted and whimpered and looked around wildly. Aliss and Cecil did their best to calm her down, but nothing worked.

They were almost up when the platform groaned. Cecil held them steady, not moving.

Suddenly, the bottom the platform gave. It was like a trap door opening. Cecil and Aliss grabbed the rope. Annie fell but grabbed Aliss's foot just in time. The platform lurched upward. Annie's grip slipped.

"ANNIE!" Aliss shouted. She grabbed the woman's hand. Annie was ballistic. She was screaming and thrashing. The platform swung from left to right, making it even harder to keep a good hold. Her hand slipped, and all Aliss had a hold of were her fingers. If she didn't do something quick, Annie would fall to her death. She looked back. Cecil was trying to keep hold of the rope so they wouldn't fall. She noticed that a small wooden board was stuck through a loop in her jacket.

"Annie!" she called again, this time to get her attention. "Annie, listen to me! I need you to calm down!" It wasn't working. Annie still struggled. "Annie, I need you to calm down...for Finnick!"

That got her attention. Her head snapped up to look at Aliss. "Finnick?"

"Yes, Finnick. If you want to see him again, you need to hold still."

She nodded and closed her eyes. But she was still. Taking a deep breath, Aliss let go of the rope and held out her other hand. "Annie, grab my other hand."

Annie did. Aliss heard fabric rip.

Before they fell, a strong arm wrapped around her waist. They began ascending. Aliss sighed in relief. "Hang in there, Annie. We're almost up."

Peeta helped Cecil get Aliss and Annie out. With a groan, Katniss and Johanna let the broken platform drop.

They were in the President's empty office. This surprised Aliss. There should be guards swarming outside...inside even. Didn't they hear all that?

Suddenly, the door opened. A man with white hair and snake-like eyes stepped in.

President Snow had just one second to look surprised before the knife pierced his throat.

* * *

**I told you it was going to be a long chapter. :) **

**I hope you liked it. This was definitely the most eventful chapters in the story. You don't know how long I worked on it. My friends are beginning to think I'm a hermit. I don't really have much else to say...it feels like I should have something more to say. I would really appreciate it if you reviewed this chapter. You'd make my day! :D **

**-Smurf ^^ **


	20. Epilogue: Starting Over

EPILOGUE: Starting Over

_I still don't completely understand what happened that night, 6 months ago. _

_I guess it's not really that important. We got Annie and Peeta and Johanna out alive right? Katniss is happy, Finnick is happy...everyone's happy. I'm happy too...right?_

_Right? _

_I AM happy. I'm just confused. Confused on how over the course of 6 months a nation could fall and another one be rebuilt. _

"Aliss, you're not seriously writing in that thing again are you?" Arroe asked, peeping over her shoulder.

Aliss slammed her journal shut and glared at her. "As a matter of fact, I am. Writing relaxes me."

"I thought drawing relaxed you?"

"They both do."

"I think they're both boring."

"You think anything that doesn't involve a knife is boring," Aliss pointed out.

"That's not true!" Arroe said, appalled.

"Oh really? Give one example."

Arroe thought. "I don't think this ball is going to be boring, and it doesn't involve knives."

"True," Aliss admitted. The First Annual Panem Independence Day Ball was in about half an hour. Arroe was already dressed, since she was helping set it up in the ballroom of the President's Mansion...which was across the street from the fancy hotel they were staying at. It wasn't _really _the President's Mansion anymore though, because there was no President. There was a Council, whose members were to be replaced every single year.

Aliss had been surprised to learn that her father didn't live in the Capitol Building...which probably explained why he'd been so late to show up that night. She hadn't been surprised at its expensive splendor or luxurious taste, however. Heavensbee had estimated its value to be around 17 million dollars. He decided that it was big enough to be a private hotel, and this was where all the Council members would live during their time on the job. There was to be twelve Council members, one for each district, including the Capitol. Each Council member was to have the same amount of power, no matter what district they represented. Each district was going to be equal too. District 11 was going to get the same treatment as the Capitol. The only Council member that Aliss knew personally was Heavensbee, who was representing the Capitol. The Council members would be voted for each year, the districts choosing who they wanted to represent them.

Arroe was very excited about the ball, simply because she'd never been to one. She wore a bright green gown that wrapped around her tall frame elegantly and set off her eyes. Her usually messy red ringlets were neat and out of her face. Arroe shoved a bundle of black cloth into Aliss's arms.

"Arroe—"

"Don't even bother arguing with me," Arroe said, holding up her hand. "If I can convince Cecil to go, I can convince you to go. Besides, if you don't go, then who's Cecil going to bring as a date? So put on that dress." She ushered Aliss into the hotel bathroom. Sighing, Aliss surrendered to her friend's torture and slipped into the dress. It was black and lacy, with a tight bodice and a scoop-neck collar. Long sheer sleeves were loose around her wrists. The skirt was just as loose and sheer, but it had layers and layers of lace and black cloth under that. Aliss had to admit: she liked it.

"I'm coming in now!" Arroe said, opening the bathroom door and stopping to admire her choice. "I am amazing. Now let's do your hair." She sat Aliss in a chair and went to work on her hair. Arroe was _not _gentle. Aliss was relieved when she declared that she was finished and set to work on her makeup. "Done!"

She wheeled the chair around. Aliss was shocked at her own reflection for a moment. Her hair was twisted around a silver chopstick-looking thing, but wisps of it were already coming out. Arroe had taken special care on the makeup. Aliss's eyes were heavily done in black eyeliner, mascara, and eyeshadow. The rest of her face was nearly makeup free, except for some pale glimmering lipgloss.

"I was going for kind of mysterious," Arroe explained, anxiously looking at Aliss to determine her reaction. "What do you think?"

"I think you did a wonderful job," she answered truthfully.

Arroe beamed. "Oh! One more thing." She grabbed Aliss's wrist and dragged her out of the bathroom. "I borrowed this from Thistel, since I don't really wear jewelry, so you can just give it to her later." She snapped a silver chain with a small black pendant around Aliss's neck. "There! Now you're perfect."

Someone cleared their throat from behind them. They turned to see Cecil, leaning against the door frame smugly. He wore a simple black tuxedo, though the shirt was untucked and the bow tie slung around his neck limply. He had even gotten a haircut.

"You both look beautiful," he remarked, though his eyes were on Aliss as he said it.

Arroe glanced between the two of them and awkwardly said, "I'm going to call a taxi. Both of you _will _be downstairs in_ five minutes_."

"Very smooth, Arroe," Cecil muttered as she left.

She punched him in the gut.

Cecil closed the door behind her, rubbing his side. "Damn, she still has a mean right hook."

"I have no sympathy for you," Aliss said, smirking. "You cut your hair?"

"No. Arroe attacked me with scissors," he corrected.

"Well, she did a good job. You kind of look like Cinna now."

"Oh gee, thanks."

"That's not a _bad _thing," Aliss said.

"I thought you said you liked my hair long?" Cecil said, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Yeah, but I like it short too."

"Mmhmm," he said, looking at her. "Are you feeling okay, Aliss?"

"Yes," she said, turning away.

"Well, that was convincing," Cecil said sarcastically. He tilted her face up. "What's wrong? You've been...off...since that night. Are you upset about Katniss...?"

"It's not even that," Aliss said, breaking away and pacing around the room. "I'm not sad about Katniss killing the President. I'm not _sad _about anything. Everything's happening so quickly, it's kind of hard to feel any emotion. I mean, we've completely destroyed one nation and rebuilt another in the course of _six months_. That should be impossible!"

"Well, I wouldn't say completely destroyed," Cecil pointed out. "There are still some Capitol loyalists who don't exactly like our new form of government."

"That's not my point!" Aliss rampaged. "Almost everyone has moved on from the President so quickly. Things are dissolving and new things are replacing them. And it's all happening so fast that I can't even tell what's new and what's old anymore!" She stopped pacing.

"It's like everybody's so busy running away from their past and focusing on the future that there's no time for the present," Cecil said.

"Yes, it's exactly like that," Aliss breathed with a note of finality.

"So...you don't think you feel anything?" Cecil said, taking a step closer to her.

"No," she said.

"Are you sure?" he said, taking another step.

"Yes."

"You know what I think?" Cecil said, stepping in front of her and entwining their fingers together.

"What?"

He bent down and whispered, "I think you're lying."

Aliss took a step back so she could look him in the face. Her back hit the wall. "I'm not!"

"Yeah, you are," he said, smirking. "You know how I know?"

"How?"

"If you don't feel anything right now," he said, transitioning to a whisper again. "Then why is your heart beating so fast?"

She glared at him, trying to hide her blush. "Because I'm being harshly interrogated."

"Oh really, is that what it is?"

"Yes."

"I don't think so..." he murmured, pulling the silver thing out of her hair, causing it to fall to her shoulders. "I think it's because you love me."

"That is absolutely—" Aliss began, but she was cut off by Cecil kissing her. She decided to let their banter drop for a moment and wrapped her arms around his neck, standing on her toes. There was a bang on the door that they ignored.

"Heeelloo?" Arroe called. "Everyone decent?"

"No," Cecil growled. "Now go away."

"That's not funny, Cecil."

He didn't bother answering.

The doorknob wiggled. This was followed by a furious pounding on the door. "Open this door right now! Aliss, listen to me!"

Aliss laughed against Cecil's lips and made no move to obey.

"You guys are in so much trouble! You better be at the mansion in ten minutes or else!" They heard her stomp away.

Aliss sighed. "It'll probably take me that long to do my hair again."

Cecil considered her for a moment, then shrugged. "Just leave it. I like it better down." He tossed the silver hairpiece on the bed and continued to kiss her.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, they walked into the ballroom in the President's Mansion. They were the last to arrive. Arroe spotted them coming in and tossed her head aside angrily.

Aliss giggled. "She's giving us the silent treatment."

"She calls that punishment?" Cecil said.

The ballroom was as magnificent as the rest of the house. The floor was a polished marble, along with the walls and pillars on the sides of the room. An array of food sat on several tables lining the walls. There was even a golden fountain spurting champagne. Aliss looked for people she knew. The first person she saw was Thistel, who was exquisite in a plum-colored strapless gown that hugged her curves and flared out at the knees. Her hair was out of its usual tight ponytail and fell fluidly down her back. Then she saw Evan tugging Madge—who was wearing a silk pink gown with spaghetti straps and beaded embellishments—across the dance floor to the food. She noticed Jobee talking to a girl in a scarlet dress with a neckline to her bellybutton and short brown hair. With a start she realized that it was none other than Johanna Mason. She saw Katniss in a swirling silver dress, but she was swallowed by the crowd to fast for Aliss to see who she had accompanied. Not that it was any of her business really.

Cecil grabbed her waist and took her to the dance floor.

"I don't dance very well," she warned.

"That's why the guy leads," he said.

"Riiight."

Someone tapped on her shoulder. She turned to see Finnick Odair and Annie Cresta. Annie looked much better than the last time Aliss saw her, two months ago when she left for District 4. She wore a backless midnight blue gown that tied at the neck and her shiny brown waves were up in a bun. She smiled at Aliss.

"Do you mind if I steal her for a song?" Finnick asked Cecil politely.

"No, not at all." Cecil handed her off to Finnick.

They were silent for a moment. Aliss couldn't comprehend why Finnick Odair would want to dance with her, especially when he had Annie, so she decided to wait until he spoke.

"She still has nightmares, you know," he said, staring over Aliss's shoulder. She didn't need to turn to know that he was looking at Annie.

"I imagine so. She's been through a lot."

"They're different from the ones she had before. About the Hunger Games. Whatever he did to her in there, it was worse than that. And I know from personal experience that worse than the Hunger Games nearly impossible," he added.

"She didn't talk," Aliss said simply.

"No, she didn't. But she couldn't have. She didn't know anything." He paused and looked at her. "I want to thank you, Aliss. You don't know how grateful I am that you saved her."

"I know. She told me thank you every day until you guys left," Aliss said. "But it wasn't just me. Katniss and Cecil were there too."

"That's not what I'm talking about. I mean, I'm grateful for that too, but she told me what you did on the platform."

Aliss tilted her head in confusion.

"When the platform broke, you risked your life to save hers. Thank you," he said.

"Oh...well you're welcome," Aliss replied for lack of anything else to say.

"When things die down you should come visit us in District 4," Finnick continued. "She'd really like that."

"I will," Aliss promised.

"By the way," Finnick said as the song ended. "You look lovely."

Aliss snickered. "So do you."

The song ended and Finnick handed her back to Cecil. Aliss watched as he twirled Annie around the dance floor.

"So what did Finnick have to say?" Cecil asked after they danced for a moment.

"He just wanted to say thank you," Aliss answered. She grinned. "Why? You jealous?"

"Of Finnick? Nah, I'm not worried about him. He's got Annie," Cecil said. He pulled her towards him so their bodies were closer together than what was probably considered proper. "And I've got you."

"You've been awfully handsy tonight," Aliss remarked. "Not that I'm complaining."

"Like I said earlier, you've been different these past months. It's nice to see you getting back to normal," he said.

They bumped in to Evan, who had Madge's hand and was dragging her across the dance floor again.

"Come on, it's time for the unveiling," he said to Cecil before darting back into the crowd. Aliss watched Madge's blond ponytail bob away.

"What unveiling?" she asked.

"Oh, you're going to love this," he said mysteriously. He took her hand and followed Evan and Madge. Aliss noticed that everyone else was heading in the same direction. They ended up outside the mansion's front patio. The night was pleasantly warm, as was usual for the spring time. The white blur of the moon was a full circle tonight, though its edges were frayed. The people began counting down from ten.

"Ten...nine...eight...seven..."

"Cecil, what's going on?" Aliss whispered. He smiled and pointed to the sky, joining the others in the countdown.

"...Six...five...four...three...two...ONE!"

There was a bright ripple of light in the sky. Suddenly it began...melting. That's what it looked like; the sky was melting away. In its place was a replica, only this was much more gorgeous. The moon was a bright orb. Aliss could see its every feature, every crater. Everyone was illuminated and all color was washed away. But surprisingly, this was not what Aliss focused on. She gaped at the thousands of glittering pin-points that were scattered across the velvet sky. The first thing that came to mind was diamonds, but these were even more beautiful. These were stars.

She loved them.

Cecil laughed. "You should see your face right now."

"They're...amazing," Aliss whispered.

"Mm," Cecil distractedly agreed. His arms snaked around her from behind. He was staring at her, she could tell, but she couldn't bring herself to take her eyes off the stars. Most people were heading back to the ballroom, but it was evident that they were going to be staying a while. "You know," Cecil said, breaking the silence. "This is kind of like what you said earlier. Things are melting away and new things are replacing them so fast that people don't really appreciate  
them."

"Yeah, well at least some of us do," she said, taking her eyes off the stars for the first time and turning to look at him.

He kissed her. "Yes, some of us still do."

Aliss turned back to the sky, leaning back against Cecil. They watched the stars wink in and out of existence, not thinking of the past, not wondering about the future, just basking in the present.

**THE END!**

**Thank you so much for those who read and commented on my story! If you liked it, keep a lookout for my other ones, eh? **

**-Smurf ^^ **


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